


Galaxy's Halo

by BananasFoster1



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, But Matt Knows What He Wants to do to Shiro, Developing Relationship, F/M, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Krolia is Badass, Kuron is Shiro (Voltron)'s Clone, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Mutual Pining, No One Knows What to do About Shiro, Oblivious Keith (Voltron), Oblivious Lance (Voltron), Paladin Friendships, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Post-Season/Series 05, Protective Keith (Voltron), Season 5 Destroyed Me, Shiro (Voltron) is a Mess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-03
Updated: 2018-04-02
Packaged: 2019-03-26 12:34:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 32,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13857885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BananasFoster1/pseuds/BananasFoster1
Summary: After the events at Oriande Team Voltron and Lotor return to their task of bringing stability to the galaxy but when Shiro continues to act oddly the Paladins are forced to question if their leader is still truly himself.Or. Shiro continues to lash out at Lance and Keith tries to defend Lance when nobody else would.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is a completely new work, yay! I have an unhealthy obsession with Voltron and after watching season 5 I just couldn't help myself.  
> This work will be multiple chapters and while in this first chapter it's mostly plot setting and Keith/Lance as I continue on other characters will be more prevalent and so will other pairings so just be patient and your favorites might appear ;)

“I know it’s not ideal but it’s a plan that could end this war for good.” Allura’s voice was as calm even if everyone else in the room was taut with tension.

It was happening again. The Paladins disagreed on how to handle their next move. Lance, Pidge and Hunk stood on one side of the argument while Shiro, Lotor and surprisingly Allura stood on the other. Coran meanwhile had gone to welcome some docking ships. It was moments after he left that the new argument broke out.

“Tapping into the other reality’s supply of quintessence is essential to stabilizing the Galran people.” Lotor insisted, his tone tired no doubt from saying the same thing over and over again but as tired as he was from saying it Lance was even more tired of hearing it.

“We get that but there are still rogue generals who are trying to attack and annex coalition planets! That needs to be stopped first!” Pidge responded and Lance nodded in agreement. He couldn’t believe that Allura and Shiro were willing to run off on this wild goose chase of Lotor’s that may or may not work.

“Once we have the quintessence the other generals will fall in line.” Lotor promised and Lance had to admit that it was easy to get lost in his exotic accent and confident tone but not easy enough that he could forget what that smooth voice was suggesting. 

“And what about the planets that fall in the mean time!” Lance couldn’t hold in his worries anymore. 

“It’s a calculated risk.” Shiro said, Lance could tell that he was getting aggravated again. Lately it’d been like a switch with him, sometimes he was his old self, caring, patient and strong in a comforting safe way but more and more he was showing a different side to himself. That side was aggressive, reckless and strong in a much more threatening manner. 

Lance had noticed the change a while ago but at first he just thought it was the trauma of being captured by the Galra for a second time. It was only after Lotor showed up that the fracture between the old warm Shiro and the new harsh one became so strikingly apparent. 

“Since when is it okay to take a calculated risk with innocent people’s lives!” Lance yelled even though he knew better. He knew disagreeing with this new Shiro was pointless; at best he’d just say fine and do what he wanted anyways, at worst...

“Since I said so!” Shiro snapped harsh enough to make everyone flinch but he wasn't done yet. “You are one of the most selfish people I’ve ever met Lance! You don’t really care about saving these people’s lives! You just want the glory! You'd be better off joining those rogue Galran generals, with them at least you'll have plenty of conquered people to bow down to you!"

Shocked silence followed Shiro’s outburst. As much as Lance wished they would he couldn’t truly blame his friends for not standing up for him. Shiro had always been on a pedestal for all of them, his words trusted as true. Lance just wish he knew whether his friends’ silence was the same dawning horror he felt at Shiro’s transformation or a grim agreement with their leader’s assessment of his character...

Lance knew he could be a bit self absorbed and occasionally distracted by a pretty face but he would never put himself before any single person’s life let alone the millions in the coalition. As the silence got deafening Lance’s shoulders sank, he couldn’t even find the energy left to be angry anymore. Hurt was at the forefront of his mind but so was the growing fear that something was seriously wrong with Shiro. 

“What. In. The. Hell. Was. That.” The silence was finally broken and everyone’s heads whipped around to face the source. Coran had returned with one of the occupants of the docked ship. His favorite mustached ginger stood in the doorway awkwardly but it was who stood beside him that had spoken. Keith was still in his Blade of Marmora uniform, sans the mask, and shook with all the righteous fury that Lance couldn’t bring himself to muster up anymore. 

“Keith. You’re back.” Shiro said, his tone taking a complete one eighty. At breakneck speed the old Shiro he missed as much as he would a severed limb was back.

“I thought I was but now I’m wondering if I fell into an alternate dimension.” Keith said stepping forward into the room. “Shiro, how can you say something like that?” He asked pained and crushingly disappointed. 

For a second Lance felt his heart jump into his throat, Keith was defending him. _Keith_ of all people was actually defending him when no one else would. But just as fast as his hopes rose they plummeted again. Keith wasn’t actually worried about him; he was just seeing Shiro’s transformation in full force for the first time. The rest of them had been introduced to it slowly, like a poison fed to them in such small doses that they didn’t realize the danger until it was too late. Keith though was witnessing the full brunt of it all at once; he didn’t care about him, only Shiro.

“Keith, drop it.” Lance turned on his heel, putting his back towards everyone else and just looking at Keith, willing him to understand that now wasn’t the time to discuss this. Not in front of Pidge and Hunk and god definitely not in front of _Lotor._

“Drop it? Lance did you hear what he-“

“Yes. It’s fine. Common, let’s go grab some food goo. You can tell me about what you’ve been up to.” Lance quickly slung an arm around Keith’s shoulders and forcibly steered him out of the room, the others just watching them go.

“What-what was that?” Keith asked once they were out of the room and the doors slid shut behind them. “How could Shiro say something like that to you and how can you just stand there and take it?” 

“It’s complicated man...” He sighed and Keith stopped in the middle of the hallway, shrugging his arm off of his shoulders.

“I don’t care how complicated it was! What he said was so-was so messed up! If it were anyone else I would have decked them on the spot! I can’t believe that Shiro of all people would say that to you!” Keith waved his hands around. He was never more alive than when he was when he was angry. 

“Shiro just...he hasn’t been himself lately...We’ve all been under a lot of stress.”

“That still doesn’t give him the right to treat you that way!” Keith said sharply 

Lance felt his throat close up and heart clench, something that had been happening more and more as he and Keith put aside their differences and became friends but Keith had left for his Blade of Marmora training before he could analyze what the feeling meant. “It’s nothing. I mean it’s not like he’s all that wrong. I’m just Lover Lance remember.” 

“What?” Keith momentarily distracted by his confusion. 

“Oh yeah, I forgot you weren’t around for Coran’s ear bug show mess.” He laughed dryly.

“Ear bug-oh never mind.” Keith shook his head. “Lance. I know...I know we have had our differences but I thought we worked past the worst of them. We know each other. You know I’m more than just the team loner and I know you’re more than the skirt chasing comic relief.”

“Yeah well tell that to Shiro.” He said, cringing at the bitterness that crept into his tone. 

“Okay I will.” Keith tried to walk back into the room with the other Paladins but Lance grabbed his arm to stop him before he got more than two steps away. 

Lance felt like his breath had been taken away. Keith really was worried about him, not just about Shiro. “Keith...” that choked feeling was coming back again. “I’m not worth the fight.” He gave him a halfhearted smile, those words the exact sentence Keith said to him back after the battle at Naxella when Lance confronted him over his attempted death run. 

“To me you are.” Keith put his hands on his shoulders and gave him a little shake, echoing Lance’s own response.

“Not with this. Not you against Shiro and definitely not for me.” Lance shook his head. “Something’s up with him, even he’s said something doesn’t feel right...I mean he’s been tense ever we found him in that shuttle but lately it’s been really bad, ever since Lotor came around.”

“Do you think Lotor is doing something to him?” Keith asked and Lance smirked at his fire. Keith was always just so ready to jump in there and protect his friends and apparently that fire extended to protecting him now too. That realization caused a pool of warmth to form in the pit of his stomach. 

“As much as I wish we could blame Lotor I don’t think he’s doing anything to Shiro, at least not on purpose. Like I said he was a bit off before Lotor even got here, it’s just been worse lately. Honestly at first I thought he might have a thing for Lotor and was fighting with Allura to get his attention-“

“What?” Keith was giving him that look like he had just grown a second head.

“Hey! I was just brainstorming!” He sulked a bit 

“That would require a brain.” Keith said and unlike Shiro’s vitriol Keith’s words was full of fond humor, a comfortable teasing that made Lance relax and smile for the first time in what felt like ages.

“Well then do you have any better ideas?” Lance put his hands on his hips and leaned forward but quickly righted his posture when he realized that he had just broke out his signature flirting pose.

“No. But I brought someone back with me who might.” Keith said, thankfully too lost in thought to notice his slip up. 

“What? Who?” He asked confused, wondering who Keith could have possibly brought back with him. Another Blade member? An actual friend? Oh god, did Keith find a _girlfriend_ in space?

Before he could go down that rabbit hole of emotions Keith cleared his throat awkwardly.

“Lance...do you want to meet my mom?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh! This story has by far gotten the most attention out of any of my work. Maybe it's because of how timely it was to the recent season or just because I uploaded on a Saturday but wow! Now I'm kind of scared though that my next chapters won't live up to the hype of the first. Since we know so little about Krolia and Keith's father it sort of gives us all the liberty to make up our own backstory for them and this chapter outlines mine. More on my interpretation of Krolia in the end notes. For now just have fun and enjoy this chapter!

Keith took Lance to the commissary where he asked his mother to wait when their shuttle had docked. He had intended to bring all of his friends to meet her but that plan went out the window quickly enough. 

Keith still couldn’t believe what he had walked in on. In fact, if he hadn’t heard the words come out of Shiro’s mouth himself he probably wouldn’t have believed it at all. More than that the way Lance was handling the situation stunned him. He had always been so lively, Keith often joked with Shiro that you could hear Lance coming from a lightyear away. But now he was quiet and subdued, it gave Keith the horrified impression that this wasn’t the first time Shiro snapped at him. 

He sighed, looking around the crowded dining room for his mother. Not for the first time he cursed his height, wishing he could see over the heads of all the different sized aliens that were working with Allura and by extension Lotor on peace accords.

“Oh there she is” Lance pointed and sure enough Krolia sat at a table in the corner of the room, eating a plate of some alien cuisine. 

“How did you know that was her?” Keith frowned confused and Lance gave him an incredulous look.

“Seriously? She looks just like you.”

“She’s _purple._ "

“Well other than that. I mean I even see where you got your hair from!” Lance laughed and Keith thought that it was good to see Lance relaxed again, it felt right. Tense and quiet Lance made him worry the universe was about to explode and even if he didn’t always know what to say in the face of Lance’s light hearted humor he much preferred it to a sad, injured Lance.

“Well just come on and meet her.” Keith said and he figured he must have said something right because Lance beamed and followed him over to the table where his mother sat.

To be honest it was still hard for him to fathom. He was in the process of getting used to the fact that he was part alien and now here was the living proof right in front of him, his mother in the flesh. More than just the fact that she was an alien Keith struggled to grasp the concept that he had a mother at all and that she left not because she didn’t love him but because she wanted to protect the Galaxy from this awful war. While it didn't change the fact that they hardly knew each other he could understand her reasoning, after all, all of the Paladin’s were giving up time with their families to help defend the Galaxy. 

Remembering that made him sore once again about how Shiro had treated Lance. A selfish person didn’t put their life on the line everyday to save innocent people. A selfish person didn’t take on whatever role was demanded of them without complaint. Lance took up the mantle of soldier, learned to be a sharpshooter and was a fantastic right hand during his brief stint at leading Voltron. Could he be a bit of a drama queen? Sure, but they all had their ways of coping and if Lance chose to cope by smiling through the pain who was he to complain? If anything Keith thought that it took a lot of strength to smile even when the Galaxy is burning around you.

“Hello. The name’s Lance.” Lance introduced himself to Krolia with a wiggle of his eyebrows and Keith groaned. He changed his mind, Lance was unbelievable and should be thrown out of an airlock. 

Krolia’s serious expression cracked and she gave Lance an amused smile before looking back towards Keith. “Is this one of your _friends?_ ” She asked in a way that made his face feel hot.

“He was” Keith said while trying to hide his discomfort, Lance gasping and putting his hands over his heart dramatically, Keith couldn’t help but chuckle and shake his head. “Lance flies the Red Lion. He’s sort of ridiculous.” He smirked 

“I am not!” Lance protested and Krolia laughed 

“Don’t worry. His father used to call me the same thing.” 

“What?”

“What?” Keith echoed Lance’s question but Lance recovered much more quickly and sat down across from Krolia with an almost manic grin on his face.

“Oh my god. Oh my god. _Oh. My. God._ You’re the fun parent aren’t you?” Lance seemed giddy at this development. 

“Well compared to his father I was. He was such a grouch but I wore him down.” Krolia grinned “Found the smiles under his seriousness, the warmth in the way he’d roll his eyes at me.” 

“How did you meet? What were you doing on earth in the first place?” Lance asked and Keith elbowed him in his side for being nosy even if he was curious of the answer himself. 

“It’s fine.” Krolia said to him, wiping her mouth on a napkin before beginning her story “I’ve fought with the Blade of Marmora since I could hold a weapon. I was on a mission and my shuttle got hit during an escape. I crash landed on Earth, thankfully in a rural countryside. When I woke up after the crash I was in a bed, in an unfamiliar cabin, my injuries tended to. I heard footsteps headed towards my room so I gripped my knife. When the door opened and someone came through I jumped up, grabbed them and pinned them against the wall with my knife pointed at their face. That was your dad.”

“You attacked him?” Keith asked with wide eyes. 

“Awesome.” Lance said in awe

Krolia smirked “I nicked his eyebrow with my knife to show him I meant business. Asked who he was and what was my location. Well, he got a bit huffy with me then, didn’t care about the knife and said I had crashed in his farm’s cornfield and demanded to know who I was and why I was purple.”

Lance laughed. “Classic.” He said and Keith shooshed him.

“At that point I realized that I was on an Isolated World. A planet that other cultures, not even the Galra had reached yet. When I realized he didn’t know about the empire therefore couldn’t turn me over I put away my weapon, told him my name and that I was purple because I wasn’t from his world.”

“But don’t you have some sort of non interference clause. You know not to get involved with species before they have warp drive?” Lance asked and Keith buried his face in his hands embarrassed. 

“What? No. I don’t know what warp drive is and my ship already burned down half his crop. I kind of already interfered.” Krolia pointed out “Thankfully he was more curious than angry or scared. I liked that about him, face to face with an alien and all the implications that came with it about his place in the universe, what the rest of the Galaxy looked like and he just asked me if I was hungry.” She smiled a bit. “I told him that I needed to get to my ship, that I had to get back to my people. We argued, he told me I was hurt and needed to rest, I said that I’ve been through worse. Eventually I got him to take me to my ship, turns out our argument was pointless, my ship was in shambles. There was no way I was going to get it to fly. I was trapped.”

“No.” Lance gasped, completely taken in by the story which made Keith smirk but then he realized something. 

“Dad always said that he met my mother fixing her _car_...it’s one of the only thing I could ever get him to say about her-about you.”

“Well now you see why he couldn’t say much. He would have sounded crazy telling you I was a purple, furry alien.” Krolia smirked “And he did help me fix my ship. I didn’t expect someone from an Isolated World to be so handy but he surprised me...he never failed to surprise me...Fixing my ship took time, several of what your father called years. Between getting compatible materials and keeping my existence a secret from the rest of the world it was hard work. Over time we became friends and then more...Owen was serious and stoic but still very warm. He liked to do things by the book, it drove him nuts when I would take risks whether that meant using the electric fence to test the wiring on my ship or when I tried to tie two pigs together and ride them.”

“Your Mom is amaaaazing.” Lance sang

“You had just turned two when we finally finished repairing my ship. By then I told him about the Empire and what I was fighting against. I wanted...I wanted nothing more than to stay with you and your father but I had a job to do...”

“I understand why you left.” Keith interrupted “I didn’t for a long time but knowing what’s going on out here, who you’re fighting against, I understand now. We’ve all made sacrifices to protect to defend the Galaxy. That doesn’t mean you loved your family any less. If anything you did this for us.” He looked at Lance out of the corner of his eye, willing him to understand that he wasn’t just talking about his mother’s sacrifice but his too.

Krolia smiled softly and nodded. Keith knew they had a long way to go if they ever hoped to have the bond of mother and son but this was a start. “You always did take after Owen in your looks” She said and Lance scoffed a bit, clearly of a different opinion “and Earth was still isolated from the Empire so it was decided that you’d be safest staying with your dad. I left my blade with him in hopes that someday he’d be able to tell you the truth about me and where I came from.” 

Keith hesitated a moment, wondering if maybe he should wait until they were alone break this news to her but also feeling like if he waited he’d be somehow lying to her. “For as long as I could remember Dad would spend every evening outside staring at the stars. I used to just think he liked the fresh country air but now I know he was looking for you. When I was old enough he’d bring me out with him and we would sit out there for hours looking at the sky, he taught me the constellations, how to track the planets, work a telescope. I learned to love space too so when I was finally old enough I joined the Galaxy Garrison and trained to be a pilot. I couldn’t wait to see the stars up close...about three months after I started a junior officer was sent to pull me out of class. He took me to an office and broke the news that...that there had been an accident on the farm.” Keith clenched his fists. He was keenly aware of Lance’s eyes on him. He was sure Lance knew he was an orphan, or before he met his mother thought he was an orphan, but he was sure Lance didn’t know the whole story. “A fire broke out in the stables. Dad went in to free the horses but couldn’t make it out himself. He’s uh...he’s dead...” Keith swallowed hard. Even years later it was still hard to talk about.

He felt a warm hard clasp his shoulder and looked over to Lance who gave him a comforting smile. He nodded his head gratefully before looking back to Krolia who looked understandably crushed. Her story told him his own origins but also confirmed for him how much his parents had loved each other. 

“I-I’m sorry to hear that.” She said, true sorrow in her voice but years of difficult operations with the Blade of Marmora had trained her to hold on to her emotions. “And I’m sorry you were left alone for so long...”

“I wasn’t completely alone.” He admitted, remembering that he and Lance had a question to ask. “The junior officer that had the responsibility of breaking the news about Dad. Afterwards he and I became friends, like brothers even. He didn’t have much family left and neither did I so we sort of became like family to each other.”

“Oh” Lance whispered as if he finally understood something he hadn’t before.

“Long story short he’s now our team leader, the Black Paladin but lately he’s been acting oddly. I saw a bit of it earlier but Lance says it’s been going on for a while now, ever since he escaped Galran imprisonment. We were just wondering if you had heard of anything like this before, someone being taken by the Galra but then coming back...not like themselves.”

Krolia’s face had turned grim. “I’m afraid I’ve heard of something similar.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well yay you made it to the end!   
> The next chapter we'll be getting back to Shiro and his issues.   
> Like I said in the start notes this chapter is really just about my Krolia/Keith's father head cannons. In my head Krolia is smart, strong, an amazing badass fighter but also kind of wild with Keith's father chasing after her in a panic yelling "Krolia _no!"_ and her responding "Krolia yes" before doing something crazy (by human standards).   
>  Since Keith grew up with his father (who yes I named Owen, seemed like a good name for his face, I don't know. John was my second choice but I thought Owen was more fun) I guess it just makes more sense to me that he'd be the serious one Keith emulates. Besides, this way it opens up so fun bonding opportunities for Krolia and her favorite son in law Lance ;)  
> Lastly, I'm a Star Trek nerd so expect spattered references throughout this story. Some will be obvious, some maybe a little more obscure. Have fun finding them all.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well here you guys go! Thanks for sticking with the story so far, you're the best!

Lance had always wondered how Shiro and Keith knew each other. It was obvious from the first time they all saved Shiro at the Garrison that he and Keith had a deeper bond than just the hero worship the rest of the team felt. Even deeper than Pidge who had known of Shiro through her brother and father. Now he knew that Shiro was the one who had comforted Keith after his father’s death, had been there for him. Keith even used the phrase ‘like a brother’ when referring to Shiro.

All of that made Lance simultaneously breathe a sigh of relief and dread. On the one hand Lance may have considered the possibility that Keith and Shiro had a romantic history. The fact that they didn’t made something inside Lance feel lighter. But that feeling was only deflated when he considered what position he was putting Keith in by telling him his concerns about Shiro’s behavior, pitting him against his 'brother.' Maybe they all would have been better off if he kept his worries to himself. 

“You’ve heard of something similar? What?” Keith asked his mother, leaning forward in his seat.

Lance couldn’t help but appreciate the similarities and differences between mother and son. The purple skin was the most obvious difference but just as striking was their height disparity. What struck him the most though were the similarities, sure the hair jokes would be endlessly amusing but more than that it was the eyes, their jaw, the way they held themselves. Krolia may have a wild side but he had no doubt she was just as ruthless of a warrior as Keith if not more so. Lance couldn't imagine what Keith must be going through, he had seen first hand how closed off Keith was, all stemming from his mother's perceived abandonment. Knowing what she had left him to do, to fight this war, may be something Keith could understand but that didn't mean it erased years of hard feelings and loneliness.

“Yes. It was not long after I returned from my time on Earth. I was working with a planet that had managed to resist the Empire for decapheebs but was slowly loosing ground. One of their leaders was captured by the Galra but eventually managed to escape and find their way back to the planet. At first everyone celebrated but as time went on it became apparent that this man wasn’t the same one that left them. Sure they looked alike, had the same memories, and made the same gestures, even had a basic handle on the same relationships but those closest could tell something was off. It was just a feeling in the beginning but eventually he started to push the planet into making decisions that led them closer to a Galran take over.”

“What was wrong with him?” Lance asked.

“It was a clone. The real man was still being held by the Galra in stasis. The clone was sent back believing himself to be the real thing but with certain programming in his head that allowed the Druids to tap in and issue commands. He didn’t even realize it was happening.” Krolia explained grimly 

“That...that sounds just like Shiro...” Lance said slowly “He said he didn’t feel right and whenever he lashes out he apologizes later. All of his outbursts or disregard for the team has to do with keeping Lotor safe. First with the prisoner exchange with Pidge and Matt’s father, then when he pushed for Voltron to back up Lotor’s bid for the Galran leadership.”

“It sounds like Lotor is behind this. He's the only one benefiting.” Keith pointed out.

“I know that’s what it seems like but each time Lotor seems just as surprised by Shiro’s alliance as the rest of us. He doesn’t expect it or count on it like I think he would if he was behind this.” Lance shook his head. He didn’t like Lotor but he couldn’t deny how useful he had been. Not mention he wasn’t blind enough to miss the growing connection between Lotor and Allura and as much as he might disapprove he also knew that the Princess was more than capable of making her own decisions. For Allura’s sake he was willing to give Lotor the benefit of the doubt. 

“Last time it was the Druids that controlled the clone.” Krolia pointed out.

“Zarkon’s Witch has already shown interest in Shiro with his super arm. Maybe when he was captured again she decided to go even further.” Lance said slowly 

“But why would she go through all this trouble just to protect Lotor? Shouldn’t she want him dead more than anyone for killing Zarkon?” Keith asked 

“I don’t know.” Lance leaned forward in his seat, lowering his voice “But are we really considering the possibility that Shiro...might be a clone?” He asked, the notion sounding simultaneously ridiculous and enlightening. It would explain so much but at the same time the thought that they had been paling around with a clone for so long felt far-fetched at best, paranoid delusional at worst.

Then again he defended the Galaxy in a red magical lion robot that spit fire so really, who was he to say what was far fetched anymore?

“The Shiro I knew would never treat you like that. Especially when you were just trying to help civilians and do your job as the right arm of Voltron by offering him another opinion.” Keith shook his head 

“I’m not so sure man...” Lance said slowly “What if Shiro’s just feeling the strain of being out here for so long? He’s been captured and tortured by the Galra not once but twice. Maybe he’s just having a hard time and I annoy him. Isn’t that a lot more likely than him being some kind of crazy clone?”

Keith shook his head “Shiro just...that wasn’t like him.”

“Maybe it’s just not a side of him you ever saw before but this war has changed all of us.” Lance sighed; sometimes he woke up, looked in the mirror and didn’t even recognize himself anymore. Sure he looked the same but his eyes reflected the horrors he had seen. Unfortunately no amount of moisturizer could make that look better.

Keith seemed to consider it and looked towards Krolia who had been watching their interaction intrigued. “When you encountered that clone, how did everyone figure out that it was a fake?”

“They killed him.” She shrugged

“What?” Lance felt his voice go high pitch. 

“He almost traded them to the Galra, his people had no choice. When he died the clone melted, like he was made of wax. They realized then that it wasn’t really their leader.” 

“Well obviously we can’t kill him and risk being wrong.” Lance ran his hands over his face, shuddering at the mere thought. 

“We need to figure out for sure if this is the real Shiro. There has to be some kind of tell. I know that the clone would have all of Shiro’s memories so we can’t test him that way but maybe the clues aren’t in his memories but how he reacts to the people around him. His...connections, like how he yelled at Lance.” Keith suggested

“Well I hope you never get cloned. We’d never be able to tell the difference, you yell at me all the time.” Lance put his hands behind his head.

“I do not!” He snapped and Lance grinned when Keith turned red when he realized he had just yelled at him that he doesn’t yell at him. Lance shot a wink at Krolia who smirked in response. 

“If you say so.” Lance said pleased with himself. “But you’re the person here that’s closest to Shiro and he treats you just like he always did.”

“Yeah but I’m not...I’m not good at you know, peopling.” Keith waved his hands around

“Peopling?” Lance echoed with a raised eyebrow.

“You know, talking to people, hanging out with them. It was always easier with Shiro sure but that’s because he always had that way of seeing underneath the surface. He understood me but I didn’t always understand him. I might now see if he's acting just a little differently. I’m not good at that, I’m never able to tell if someone likes me or I annoy them.” Keith admitted uncertainly and Lance frowned a little. That explained part of why Keith was so standoffish, he couldn’t see how much people wanted him around. “Besides, I’m sure Matt knows him better than I do.” Keith continued.

“Matt? Our Matt Holt? I mean I know they knew each other from the Kerberos mission and all but I didn’t realize they were friends.” Lance said surprised, trying to recall all of the times he had seen them together. Sure they greeted each other warmly when Matt first returned to them but he had mostly just seen Matt with Pidge or the Rebels after that.

“Yeah. They were best friends at the Garrison. I think even more than that."

“More?” Lance leaned closer; he’d be lying if he said that hadn’t peaked his curiosity. He originally thought Matt had a thing for Allura but then again it was Allura, who didn’t have a bit of a thing for her? And granted, secret love stories seemed so small in comparison to the war they were fighting but if they spent so much time fighting that they forgot how to live their lives, who were the real winners there?

“I mean. I never saw anything and Shiro never said anything but I just always felt like there was something between them. And Matt just seemed...unnerved when Shiro would spend a lot of time with me.”

“Unnerved? You mean jealous.” Krolia smiled “Aww. He thought you were moving in on his partner. My son, such a heartbreaker.”

“I think it’s the chin.” Lance joined in the teasing and swatted Keith on the arm “And you said you were bad at reading people.”

“Well Matt’s like Pidge. Neither of them are exactly subtle, even for me.” Keith pointed out “I mean Matt’s still Matt he was never anything but polite but he would always gnaw violently on his pencils when I was around him and Shiro. Until they were like little wooden stubs. It was concerning. But they were always together at the Garrison, even after Shiro got promoted.”

“Yeah. It hasn’t been like that at all since we found Matt.” Lance shook his head, understanding that with Keith gone with the Blade of Marmora he wouldn’t know that.

“Well, let’s ask him why.” Keith stood up “If something is wrong between them then that might point us to whether we’re dealing with the real Shiro or not.” He said and walked out of the commissary.

Lance shared a perplexed and then horrified look with Krolia, both of them jumping to their feet. “Keith? Keith!” Lance called, running after him frantically “Keith you can’t just _ask_ people that sort of thing!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, Matt! I'm not sure if it's because they have one of my favorite ship names ever or what but I love Shatt and I'm just a sucker for Matt Holt in general.   
> I thought this sort of reveal would make sense, Krolia's no doubt seen a lot in her time so why not it be her that tips everyone off to the fact that the Galra has the ability to make clones and use them aggressively.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one has been a fun but challenging chapter to write but I finally got it done so hooray! So please enjoy!

Unfortunately for all involved Keith found Matt before Lance and his mother caught up. 

“Hey. I need to talk to you.” Keith said and Matt looked over from where he was talking with some of the other rebels in the large observation room. The view out the massive windows was stunning, stars as far as the eye could see with ships from different coalition groups occasionally zipping past.

“I’ll see you all later.” Matt smiled and walked away from his conversation in order to meet Keith a bit away where they could have a private conversation. He didn't seem to mind being interrupted or at the very least Matt accepted Keith's direct way of interacting with people. “What do you need? Is Pidge alright? I saw her leaving the command center about half a varga ago, she looked upset.”

Keith realized that must have been just after he left with Lance. He briefly wondered how the rest of that meeting had fared, judging by Matt’s assessment of Pidge’s mood he’d guess not well. 

“It’s not about Pidge. I actually have a question about Shiro-“ Keith was cut off by a body colliding full force into his own. With the wind knocked out of him it took him a second to realize that it was in fact Lance that had body slammed him away from Matt and into the observation window. “What was that!” He asked, too stunned to actually be angry.

“I’m stopping you from rushing into something very delicate and making things awkward.” Lance said 

“You kinda failed, this is still awkward.” Matt piped up and Keith looked over towards him and saw his mother standing near by with a calculating look on her face. He looked back at Lance who still had him pressed against the window and felt himself heat up when he realized their position. Without thinking he shoved Lance away with all this might. 

Lance stumbled and flailed his arms, over dramatically in his opinion, but Krolia caught him effortlessly. 

“Don’t push your friends. That’s not nice.” She scolded with a poorly concealed smirk.

“He just body slammed me into a window!” Keith protested, trying to will his face to stop being so red. 

Despite what people may think he wasn’t some clueless bunny who didn’t know what attraction was. Of course he recognized it, he just also realized that it was normally more trouble than it was worth. More often than not relationships ended in disaster, or worse they didn’t end at all and the affection became so uneven that one person gave their all while the other person just took. He supposed it didn’t always happen this way but never the less he was certain that the luxury of love wasn’t meant for him. While he was confident in his own superior talents concerning combat and piloting he didn’t hold any delusions about his social skills. He’d seen cactuses with better personalities than his own.

So it didn’t matter if Lance made him smile with his crazy antics or that he sometimes forgot how to speak when Lance made an impressive shot. Even if their arguments had turned into fond teasing long ago without him realizing it and that after Shiro, the real Shiro, Lance was the easiest person for him to talk to. None of that mattered because he was fine with the way they were. Barely friends was a safe place to be where he didn’t get his hopes up that this person would finally stay with him. 

“I might have gotten a little over excited.” Lance held his thumb and his index finger very close together. 

“A little-“

“Hey guys.” Matt interrupted, he always had a pleasant voice, even when Pidge wasn’t around he had a warm tone, like a big brother watching his younger siblings’ ridiculous antics. “What is it you wanted?”

Keith crossed his arms and looked at Lance with a raised eyebrow. If he was so picky about how they broached this topic then he could ask.

“Well you see...” Lance had righted himself back on to his feet and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “We have a problem...about a topic that we think you might know more about than we do.”

“Okay...like a science project?” Matt seemed confused, rightfully so “I mean I’m glad to help guys but why not just get my sister or Hunk to help?”

“This is something very specific to you.” Lance nodded and Keith rolled his eyes. 

“It’s about Shiro. We think he’s been acting weird and want to know if you noticed anything.” Keith couldn’t stand to watch Lance beat around the bush anymore. Like he said, cactuses were less prickly than him. 

“Oh.” Matt’s singular word was as heavy as lead. He took his bottom lip into his mouth a nibbled on it. Maybe it because of his own ‘close encounter’ a few moments earlier but Keith caught himself idly wondering if Shiro ever appreciated Matt’s apparent need to work something over with his mouth when he got anxious. He was incredibly thankful Matt spoke again before that line of thought could spiral out of control. “I have noticed that Shiro has been...different. I guess I just thought it was me or our situation out here...”

“Can you tell us what kind of different?” Lance asked slowly

“What’s all this about guys?” Matt laughed awkwardly.

“Look we know it’s probably weird to talk about but you can trust us.” Keith offered

“I don’t even know her.” Matt looked over to Krolia warily.

“Oh. That’s my mother.” Keith nodded and Krolia waved. Matt blinked a few times, looking between her and Keith.

Matt’s eyes flicked to Krolia’s hair, face then to Keith’s, seeming to make an assessment. “Okay. I get that...” he said slowly and let out a sigh. “Look, at the Garrison Shiro and I were best friends.”

“Just best friends?” Keith asked and Lance elbowed him.

Matt’s cheeks tinged pink “Yeah...and no. I mean...it always seemed like we were heading towards more. We were so different, he was a pilot and I was a science officer but we could talk for hours and not get bored even if we had no idea what the other was saying." Matt's face slowly morphed into a smile as he got caught up in his memories "We practically lived in each other’s rooms at the Garrison, if one of us was working too long the other would bring food and coffee. While Shiro was still in classes he always had a habit of loosing his textbooks and I would always know where he left them. And one time he woke me up in the middle of the night and we snuck into the simulator, he flew me around the rings of Saturn because I spent the afternoon rambling on about my theories on the formation of Saturn’s polar storms.”

“Shiro broke in to the simulator after hours?” Lance laughed and Matt nodded with a grin.

“Just because he’s normally so responsible doesn’t mean he _always_ follows the rules.” Matt said “And I mean nothing ever happened but I always felt like there were signs, touches that didn’t have to be there but were anything but unwelcome, looks that lasted way to long to be meaningless...even after we were taken prisoner he did everything he could to protect me. And I...I joined the rebels hoping that one day I’d become strong enough and smart enough to protect him in this war. But I um I guess I was wrong.”

“What do you mean?” Keith asked softly, from what he had seen back at the Garrison Matt’s assessment of their affection was spot on but then again he didn’t have much confidence in his ability to read people.

“Ever since Pidge found me things have been different. He’s still Shiro, nice, funny, and strong but something is just missing between us now. Or maybe it was never there to begin with and I just read the whole thing wrong.” Matt rubbed his forehead with the heel of his hand. 

Keith shared a look with Lance who nodded. It was another thing to add to their list of strange behavior and while it didn’t definitively prove their theory it was a further tip to their scale. 

“Why are you guys bringing this up?” Matt asked and Keith felt bad. He was sure this was an awkward topic to talk about at best.

“We...have noticed that Shiro has been acting weird but you’ve known him longer than both of us so we wanted to see if you noticed anything.” Keith said slowly, not sure how much they should tell him when they were still so unsure. 

“What do you mean weird?” Matt asked, looking between them. 

Keith looked back at Lance to explain as much as he thought was best. With Keith away on Blade of Marmora missions and Matt off with the rebels Lance really had seen the most of Shiro’s recent behavior. 

“He’s just been...really not like Shiro.” Lance started “He’s been snapping at people when they disagree with him, really hitting at where he knows it'll hurt...going behind the team’s back even after we all voted an idea down and just really acting like Voltron’s King.”

Matt looked shocked, disbelieving even “No. That can’t be right. That doesn’t sound like Shiro.” He said and Keith’s eyebrows raised at his choice of words but at the same time that’s exactly how he felt when he walked in on Shiro shouting at Lance earlier.

“I know what you mean but I saw it and heard it myself and it wasn’t pretty.” Keith immediately backed up what Lance said. He knew Matt wasn’t trying to accuse Lance of lying, he was just trying to wrap his head around the idea of Shiro acting so unlike himself, but he still felt the need to support Lance in this. He wanted to make sure Lance knew he wasn’t alone and especially make it clear that he didn’t deserve to be treated that way. 

Matt leaned against the nearby observation window. It was like his thoughts were moving so fast he couldn’t focus the brainpower on standing upright. 

Keith decided then that they couldn’t hide their suspicions from Matt. Just like he felt that not disclosing his father’s death to Krolia was disingenuous he decided the same was true about not telling Matt about Shiro. 

“We think Shiro might be a clone.” He burst out, thankfully remembering to keep his voice low despite the strength behind his declaration.

“What?” Matt went from shocked to horrified.

“We know it sounds crazy-“ Lance started but stopped when Matt shook his head.

“Actually I hate how not crazy it sounds.” Matt laughed dryly

“What?” Lance asked surprised

“Well I mean...I just thought maybe I had changed too much and Shiro just wasn’t interested anymore or that I was making up our connection in my head. But with what you said...I don’t care how stressed he is that’s not how Shiro treats his friends.” Matt itched his nose, almost like he momentarily forgot he didn’t wear glasses anymore and went to push them up. “It’s easier for me to believe that a culture as technologically advanced as the Galran Empire can create a viable human clone from a living sample than to think someone can change that drastically. Have you told anyone else?”

Keith shook his head “We don’t have any proof.” He said. Matt believed them because of his experience and unwavering faith in Shiro’s selfless kindness. The others, while they all admired and cared about Shiro greatly, didn’t know him quite in that way and might be harder to convince without more proof. After all, on Earth if you suddenly started claiming someone was a clone you’d probably be locked up and forcibly medicated. 

“Okay. How do we get proof?” Matt asked 

“If we kill the clone it melts away like the toy it is.” Krolia offered 

“Yeah I won’t be the one doing that.” Lance said immediately and Keith couldn’t help but agree with him. Discarding the fact that they could still be wrong about this whole thing, he couldn’t imagine killing someone that looked like and really believed he was Shiro. 

“Then I don’t know any other way to prove your friend is a clone.” Krolia shook her head.

"There has to be some way to figure out for sure whether this Shiro is real or fake." Keith sighed frustrated

“I’ve got an idea, well half of an idea, but we’ll have to convince the other Paladins without proof.” Matt piped up “The real Shiro is still out there somewhere. What better way to prove this Shiro is fake than to rescue the real one?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm attached to Matt, ridiculously so, and by extension I'm also in love with Shatt (again, best ship name ever). That being said I have such trouble writing Matt as a character so that was a big frustration with this chapter because I kept on tweaking it feeling that Matt wasn't quite right. I think I'll have an easier time writing him in a happier scenario so hopefully by the end of this story I'll get that chance ;)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks everyone for sticking with this story so far! I'm definitely one of those writers who's better at the beginning and end but gets kind of foggy in the middle. It's tough for me, these chapters I know need to be there but part of me wants to rush through and get to the action and climax of the story instead. But I did my best to pace these next few chapters right so I hope everyone enjoys!

Lance wasn’t sure about this. 

After much discussion he and Keith decided that any rescue attempt had to involve the other Paladins. They had no idea where to even start looking for the real Shiro let alone when they found him he doubted they’d be able to get him out with just the Red Lion. No, a mission like this required all of Voltron. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the other Paladins but it was still nerve wracking to include them in this discussion.

Even after talking with Krolia and Matt, with all the evidence they had piling up, Lance still wondered if maybe all this came down to was the simple fact that he simply got on Shiro’s nerves. That maybe he was letting Keith make a big deal out of this because he didn’t want to believe that his hero just didn’t like him.

But it was too late to be considering those fears now because Keith had already managed to wrangle up Pidge and Hunk. Along with himself, Matt and Krolia they were all in one of the empty conference rooms seated around an odd shaped table. He and Keith decided to tell Hunk and Pidge first and if that went successfully then they’d move on to Allura, Coran and unfortunately probably Lotor. Though as unsure as he was about Lotor’s intentions he was sure Keith was even more wary. 

“Wow. So you’re Keith’s Mom.” Hunk said looking at Krolia. It seemed sensible to start their unofficial meeting by introducing Krolia to the two other Paladins. “You’re taller than I expected. Keith, why aren’t you taller?”

“I don’t know!” Keith groaned at Hunk’s usual inquisitiveness, exasperated but not angry. Lance decided a long time ago that it was impossible to be genuinely angry with Hunk. 

“I never would have expected Galra genes to be recessive in favor of human characteristics.” Pidge piped up.

“Galra are more long lived than humans so there could be some hidden traits that don’t appear until after human adolescence.” Matt added to his sister’s thought.

“With half Galra the look varies greatly depending on the child. I’ve met hybrid siblings where one will look completely Galra and the other looks exactly like the species of the other parent. There are also others that are a more obvious mix.” Krolia shrugged “But there are traits other than physical that are more universal. Even part Galra children tend to have long stamina, advanced reaction in fast twitch muscle groups, heightened aggression.”

“Yup that’s Keith for ya.” Lance grinned, sending Keith a wink who glared at him, less in response to the comment than the wink. He always loved riling Keith up, at first he’ll admit that it had been a competitive thing but now it made his stomach squirm for a completely different reason. 

“What do you know about his _stamina_ Lance?” Pidge teased and the majority of the room turned red, Keith and Lance in embarrassment and Matt in horror.

“Katie!” Matt covered his face, he rarely called her by her given name, normally only when he was desperately trying to remind her that she was his little sister and he’d like to believe she was still as innocent as humanly possible. 

Pidge just cackled at the response her joke got. 

“Guys, we wanted to talk about something important.” Lance managed to say in hopes of changing the topic. However uncomfortable he was with the Shiro situation it didn’t compare to how much he wanted to stop considering Keith’s ‘superior stamina.’ 

“What is it?” Hunk asked but Lance got the sense he already knew it had something to do with how Shiro snapped at him earlier. Keith and Shiro, the real Shiro, were like family, Pidge and Matt were family and well, Lance had Hunk. They had been best friends since their first day at the Garrison and Hunk often understood what was going on in his head often times before he did.

“It’s about Shiro...” Lance confirmed slowly 

“After you two left we told Shiro he was out of line.” Pidge said immediately and Hunk nodded along with her quickly. 

“You did?” Lance asked surprised, they had been so quiet when Shiro first snapped on him...

“Yeah, of course.” Hunk nodded “And Allura said some stuff about how we all have to stick together and remember that our teammates are like family. You know, her way of diplomatically scolding someone. Then Lotor suggested that we all take some time to breathe and we could go back to making plans later.”

Lance let out a breath, touched by his friends defense even if it was delayed, understandably he supposed, by the shock of the moment. 

Keith however seemed to be less than impressed. “It shouldn’t have gotten that far to begin with. I’ve heard that this isn’t the first time Shiro’s snapped at Lance and has acted oddly. That’s what we want to talk about.” He crossed his arms and let out his breath through his nose, the way he often did while steeling himself for a fight. “We think there’s something wrong with Shiro, actually we think that this isn’t Shiro at all, that he never came back when Zarkon captured him and what we’ve been dealing with lately is a clone controlled by the Witch.”

“A clone?” Hunk squeaked “A clone like Shinzon?” He asked and Lance gasped out a surprised laugh.

“Who’s that?” Krolia asked with a frown

“It’s from a movie. But yeah actually, kinda.” Lance realized with a grin.

“That’s impossible.” Pidge shook her head

“Eh, cloning has been possible on Earth since the turn of the twenty first century.” Matt objected

“Not the cloning part. That’s obviously possible but how did they combat the cell degradation involved in rapid aging, how is it being controlled from so far away and what about neural transference? The entire brain can’t be perfectly transferred, there would be either holes in memory or or...”

“Or a lack of understanding of the significance of the memories since the clone didn’t experience the same chemical brain reaction during the event as the original Shiro would have.” Matt said softly and looked at the others “Think of it like a person who was deathly afraid of water. Their clone might not react as harshly as the original when presented with an ocean because while intellectually they know they don’t like the water the panic response isn’t triggered because the clone’s body never experienced the initial trauma and corresponding chemical reaction that led to the phobia. Or conversely, positive memories might not create the same endorphins when being recalled. It’s the difference between knowing and understanding. The clone knows the memories of Shiro but it doesn’t understand them or interpret them quite in the same way.”

“Then wouldn’t we have noticed something sooner?” Pidge asked

“We did.” Lance sighed softly, “I’ve known Shiro’s been off for a while and I think you guys have known it too but like me you just thought he was stressed with the war effort.”

“Isn’t that more likely?” Hunk asked softly, obviously not wanting to disagree but also not wanting to accept this scenario as truth either.

“No.” Keith said with the sort of fire in his voice that made the hair on Lance’s arm stand straight up “I’ve seen Shiro stressed, preparing for the Kerberos mission, when he crash landed back on earth, when we were all abducted by an alien made robotic lion and started to fight in a war we knew nothing about. That was all stressful and he was never like this. Shiro doesn’t treat people the way I saw him treat Lance." He said with such certainty that Lance felt some of his own doubts melt away. "We’ve all seen some crazy things out here, had our heads played with more than once. What keeps mine on straight is knowing who I can trust. That’s you guys and right now the real Shiro is somewhere out there waiting for us, waiting for his team, to come save him!”

Lance put a hand on Keith’s arm to calm him down while Pidge and Hunk seemed to consider his words. Lance understood how difficult this must be for them to accept, unlike Keith who had been gone for so long that he had a clear before and after picture, the rest of the Paladins had to consider months of conversations and events and slowly put together the puzzle of Shiro’s slow but undeniable change.

Finally Pidge looked to Matt “What do you think?” She asked and Lance understood that where he and Keith could be hot heads that sometimes jumped to crazy conclusions, Matt was much more logical and would only join the crazy train if he thought the facts backed it up. He was also sure that Pidge had some sense of her brother's feelings for Shiro.

“I think they’re right.” Matt nodded “I’ve known Shiro longer than any of you. And I knew he was acting oddly but blamed it on myself. When Keith and Lance came to me with their hypothesis and data I had to adjust my conclusion. It wasn’t something wrong with me, it was something wrong with Shiro. We may not have physical proof but we can’t dismiss this amount of intangible data either.”

“If it looks like a duck, walks like duck and sounds like a duck it’s probably a duck.” Lance nodded “Or in this case clone.”

“What do we do about it?” Hunk asked, “Like where do we go to find the real Shiro? What do we do with the clone?”

Lance sighed “We haven’t gotten that far yet. Next we’ve got to talk with Allura and Lotor.”

“Yeah, why didn’t you tell Allura with us?” Hunk asked confused

“Because so far the only pattern this clone has shown is trying to protect Lotor and if we’re not careful Allura might think we’re trying to make up something outrageous to discredit Lotor and she’d shut us out. We need her support and we also need to know what Lotor knows. He knew where they were keeping Commander Holt after all, he’s our best chance at finding the real Shiro too.” Lance nodded

“Well, I’m still not convinced Lotor isn’t behind this.” Keith added 

Lance sighed, “I wish it was his fault, he’s right here and easy to catch but so far we’ve only heard of Zarkon’s Witch being able to control the clones and Lotor like _really_ hates her. I don’t think they’re capable of working together.”

“Prince Lotor is known among the Galra as being untrustworthy.” Krolia offered and then added slowly “But that is because he’s never had the same interests or goals as his father or the rest of the Empire.”

“Are you saying his reputation for being untrustworthy is why we should trust him?” Lance asked surprised and Krolia gave a shrug. 

“While I was on Earth I heard a saying in one of Owen’s movies and it served me well when I returned to the Blade. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

Lance nodded “Either way I didn’t want to risk alienating Allura because she thought we were attacking him. They’ve become…close lately.” He said and Hunk giggled at the not so subtle implication. “But we do have to talk to them, it’s not right hiding this from Allura and Lotor might be the key to finding the real Shiro.”

“I still don’t trust him.” Keith grumbled 

“I thought you would trust him more than the rest of us.” Pidge commented “After all, Lotor is the one that saved your life when you tried to ram the Galra battle cruiser.”

“You did _what?”_ Krolia yelled

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter we get to see Allura and Lotor! Finally! After talking about them in almost every chapter thus far. Yay.
> 
> I don't know about you but my favorite part of this chapter was Pidge being a little shit in the best way possible.
> 
> And for those of you that don't know Shinzon was the villain in Star Trek Nemesis, a rapid aging clone of Captain Picard made by the Romulans. Not my favorite Star Trek movie by any means but the comparison worked better than I expected it to. (For the record, I like The Voyage Home the best. Only Star Trek could make a movie about going back in time to save some humpback whales work so well but the reboots are also high on my list as well. Not that anyone probably cares but just so you know.)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo, I might have accidentally lied, twice. As it turns out I didn't pace this chapter as well as I thought and it originally came out to be nearly 5k which is more than twice as long as any other chapters in this fic. So after some debate I made the executive decision to split this chapter in half which means no Allura and Lotor this chapter, sorry! 
> 
> That being said, the back half of this chapter is already completed so it will be posted tomorrow morning. So consider this my rapid fire round with this chapter part A. and tomorrow part B. And I can promise that Allura and Lotor are both in part B.

Keith tapped his fingers awkwardly against the table top, trying desperately to ignore the fire of an angry glare boring into the back of his skull.

Hunk and Pidge drew the short straws to leave and go find Lotor and Allura without raising the suspicions of Shiro. After they left Lance seemed to have some kind of silent discussion with Krolia before abruptly getting up and leaving, making some excuse that he’d be back soon with beverages. Thus leaving him alone with his very irate mother. 

He wasn’t sure how to handle this situation. When his father was upset with him the man just used to fix Keith with one of those ‘I’m disappointed because I love you’ looks until Keith crumbled and apologized. Krolia though seemed to handle her fear and anger in much the same way Keith did. Expressively.

“What were you thinking? Trying to ram a tiny little shuttle into a battle cruiser! You would have died!” Krolia finally burst out

“Yeah but my friends wouldn’t have. Voltron was going to be destroyed if someone didn’t stop that ship.” Keith put up his usual defense for whenever someone brought up this particular subject. 

“There had to have been another way.” She shook her head.

“Not anything that could be planned in a matter of seconds.” He threw his hands into the air. “Kolivan and the Blade always say that the mission has to come first, that emotions can’t get in the way. I wasn’t afraid to die if it meant keeping Voltron and my friends safe!”

“That’s what worries me! You weren’t afraid when we fought side by side at the Galra base, you weren’t afraid when you tried to ram your shuttle into a battle cruiser. If I asked Kolivan or your friends, how many other stories will they be able to tell me about where you almost died?” She questioned

“I don't have some kind of death wish! It's a war, a lot of people risk their lives every day. Every time I go on a mission with the Blade or every time I piloted a lion I was going into danger!”

“Taking a calculated risk, fighting a battle, is one thing but taking unnecessary risks because you think you're the most expendable, sacrificing yourself-“

“I’m not just going to abandon my team! _I_ don’t abandon my family.” He yelled but then immediately winced at how harshly his words came out.

There was a moment of silence before Krolia spoke again “But I do?” she asked in a quiet tone that shouldn’t belong to someone so strong.

Keith sighed and dropped his head, guilt coursing through him. “No. I said before that I understand why you left and I do...but I...” Keith swallowed the lump in his throat, trying to push down way his whole body seemed to fight against being vulnerable even to his own mother. “I have trouble opening up to people because I don’t want to get hurt when the person inevitably leaves. So I push people away and because of that I’ve been alone for a long time. Even though I’m not mad that you left anymore I can’t pretend that those feelings didn’t come from growing up without you.” He admitted, clenching his fists as a way to steady himself “You went back to the Blade because it the right decision for the war but it still had consequences for the people you left behind. And me crashing my ship would have been the right decision for the war even if it hurt my friends that I left behind. They’d be alive and they’d get over loosing me.”

Krolia watched him for a long moment before sitting down closer beside him and cupping his face in her hands. She made him look at her, “When you were little you kept on drawing on your face, right here.” Her thumbs stroked soft lines along his cheeks “I couldn’t understand why until one day Owen laughed and said ‘he’s trying to look like you.’” She gave him a sad smile and Keith let out a wet laugh. The thought of the three of them together doing something to his heart. “I told myself you would be okay, that you had your father and a safe planet and that you would ‘get over loosing me.’ See how well that went? Whether it was right for the war or not my absence still affected you for a long time. And I think your death would affect your friends a lot more than you think too. Yes, the galaxy needed Voltron but your friends need you.”

“They’d be fine.” Keith shook his head

“No Keith listen...I was wrong. I was wrong to leave you and your father behind.” Krolia sighed “I thought that my responsibility to the galaxy should outweigh my responsibility to you and your father. A billion people are more important than two right? What I didn’t realize then is that when you love someone, really love them, their absence is like a hole in your heart that never heals. Time goes by, circumstances change, you find success or failure but that hole is still there and it changes you.” She lowered her hands from his face and rested them on his shoulders instead. “And it’s not worth it, when you sacrifice your body to the Blade or your life to this war you are ripping a permanent hole into the people you love. I didn’t realize it back then but there’s always another way, a way to serve your duty to the galaxy and to yourself, it may be hard to find but it’s there. And even though you might not think you’re worth your friend’s tears, you are.”

Keith nodded silently, not knowing what to say to that. Any words that came to mind seemed to get caught in his throat. Finally a single thread of thought latched on and a broken laugh escaped his mouth.  
“Lance said almost the same thing to me you know.” He said, absurdly wondering why that of all things was what was strong enough to escape past his lips but once he started he couldn’t bring himself to stop. “When he heard about what I did he came stomping over and shoved me. Yelling at me about what I was thinking and how could I do something so stupid. And he was angry but there were also...there were also tears in his eyes. I think that’s what got to me. I told him to stop, that I wasn’t worth the fight. He hugged me and said ‘to me you are.’ The other Paladins, they all had their cracks at me later, Allura gave me a speech about team dynamics, Pidge was grouchy, Shiro, fake Shiro, was quiet, Hunk baked me some green alien brownies that were actually pretty good but it’s what Lance said that stuck with me the most.” 

For some reason that made Krolia smile again. “See? When you endanger your life you’re not just hurting yourself but your friends too. Especially it seems your friend Lance.” She said, voice heavy with suggestion.

Keith coughed awkwardly, looking away from her “Why would-why would you say it like that? Lance is the same as any of my other friends, we were teammates.”

Krolia leaned back in her seat, one leg crossed over the other and she had the most knowing grin on her face. “Whatever you say. All I know is that when you two are in a room together the only time he isn’t staring at you is when you’re staring at him.” She said and Keith felt his heart stop in his chest for a second. 

“I don’t-I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He shook his head quickly

“Just be careful, if you keep on pushing someone away they might think you don’t want them around and if you keep downplaying what they mean to you…well they might just take your words at face value.” She warned, tone suddenly more serious. “I know that it’s tough to trust someone, to be vulnerable with them but just remember, the people that leave you aren’t nearly as important as the ones that come back.” 

As if on cue Lance strode back into the room with a tray of drinks. “Well a bunch of visiting coalition members brought beverages as gifts so we’ve got a lot to choose from.” He said with a grin, Krolia leaning over to inspect the tray.

“These are fermented.” Krolia took two of the bottles away, much to Lance’s visible disappointment. She inspected the other drinks before nodding in approval that they were in fact age appropriate. 

“It’s so weird, having a parent around again…” Lance said but didn’t seem at all upset by the development in fact, in fact he seemed rather pleased. Keith supposed it must remind him of his family back on Earth. 

Keith reached out and took a bottle of bubbly pink...stuff off of the tray. As he watched Lance quiz Krolia about what earth drinks she had sampled he couldn’t stop thinking about the things his mother said and how it was making it difficult to form words around Lance. Even so, he refused to let his racing heart show, holding on to the irrational need to play it cool around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there is part A of this chapter! As satisfying as it was to finally have someone yell at Keith for giving all of us a heart attack I also wanted it to be a learning moment for Keith. With the real Shiro gone it's been a while since someone has been around to set his head on straight because as awesome as Lance is he just has a tendency to make Keith even more confused. And I also wanted to also point out that just because Keith understands Krolia's motives for leaving him doesn't mean it's all just magically okay, her absence was still one of the major things that molded him throughout his life for better or worse.  
> And *hint hint* some of the things Krolia says in this chapter come back to bite Keith in the butt sooner than he expects. 
> 
> Well, thanks for reading, tomorrow I'll have the second part of this chapter uploaded so be prepared!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised here is part B! Even with splitting the chapter into two parts this still ended up being almost twice as long as some of my other chapters. And since it was originally one chapter this part is also from Keith's perspective. So please enjoy!

Thankfully before his heart broke down from sheer strain of nervous stress Pidge and Hunk returned with Allura who was followed closely behind by Lotor. It seemed they had filled her in on Krolia's identity at least because Allura smiled at her in greeting.

“It’s lovely to meet you ma’am.” She said and Keith was impressed at how much she had grown from barely being able to look at him when she found out he was part Galra to a polite, even warm greeting to Krolia now. He grudgingly acknowledged that a lot of this change probably had to do with Lotor and coming to accept him but just because Allura believed he was trustworthy didn’t automatically make him believe it as well.

“Thank you for having me here Princess.” Krolia gave a nod, using the same stoic respect as Kolivan had around Allura. 

“You are welcome any time.” Allura nodded, taking her seat at the table, Lotor actually pushing in her chair a bit before sitting at her side. 

Keith didn’t realize he was glaring at Lotor until Lance elbowed him in the side. With a huff he tried to school his features into a more neutral expression, which granted for him wasn’t much softer. 

“Pidge and Hunk said you had something urgent to discuss?” Allura asked diplomatically, if she had seen Keith’s displeasure she chose not to mention it.

“We want to know what you know about the Galra using clones?” Keith asked Lotor bluntly.

The unguarded surprise on Lotor’s face was the first thing that made Keith falter and truly consider Lance’s position that Lotor may not be behind this. 

“Well...” Lotor said slowly, seeming to contemplate how much to say and what the consequences of an explanation would be. “The Galra have been capable of making clones for centuries. It began as a medical application, single organs would be cloned when a donor organ couldn’t be found by other means. As the war went on Haggar made sentient clones that were occasionally used to replace a planet’s top leadership to make them more susceptible to invasion. She could control them from a distance with the help of her Druids. It was complex, a mix of science and her dark magic. This method however was unpopular with the masses.”

“It was seen as duplicitous?” Krolia guessed “A back handed cowards way of attack.”

“Exactly” Lotor nodded “The Galra are a warrior race. Honor is found in combat, victory or death.” 

“It’s like the Klingons.” Hunk whispered.

“No, the Jem’Hadar.” Lance responded

“Will you two stop being such nerds?” Pidge said then paused “But I agree with Lance, the Jem’Hadar’s pledge is ‘Victory is Life' after all.”

“Boom.” Lance said triumphantly and Hunk sulked

“Guys. Not now.” Keith groaned, all of the aliens in the room looking at them like they had grown new heads. 

“Why do you want to know about clones?” Lotor asked calmly, seemingly deciding to ignore the human's odd behavior.

“We...we believe that Shiro has been replaced with a clone.” Keith sighed, no matter how many times he said it it didn’t get any easier.

“Oh my.” Allura said startled “It can’t be...”

“Our Shiro never returned from being Zarkon’s prisoner.” Keith insisted “This clone is being controlled by Haggar and is being used to keep Lotor safe.”

Lotor outright laughed at that “That witch would sooner see me thrown into a black hole than lift a finger to help me.” 

“We don’t know what her plan is. Maybe it’s to keep you alive so she can kill you herself. Or for some other agenda. Her why isn’t important right now.” Keith shook his head “What’s important is that Shiro has been laser focused on keeping you alive to the point that he’s willing to lie to the rest of the team, sneak out behind their backs and treat Voltron like his own personal weapon instead of something that’s made up of a team he cares about.” Keith said, getting more frustrated with each word.

“You don’t know Shiro, but Allura you do.” Lance looked to Allura, turning the focus on to her as if sensing Keith’s animosity towards Lotor was bubbling dangerously close to the surface. “The way he’s been acting lately isn’t right.”

“Are...are you sure you’re just not just upset that he got angry with you?” Allura asked Lance. The fact that her tone was gentle and understanding instead of accusing was one of the only things that stopped Keith from yelling. 

Lance paused before answering, for once taking a moment to gather his words before he spoke. “The first time it happened that’s all I thought it was.” Lance admitted “I mean, I know that sometimes I can be annoying or have trouble shutting up...I get that but what I don’t get is Shiro risking Pidge’s dad by giving Lotor his bayard. Lying to us and taking the black lion to the Kral Zera behind our backs. Blowing up at us whenever we disagree with him.” Lance shook his head. Keith hated proving his mother right on this but he couldn’t take his eyes off of Lance. He had started out sad but the more he spoke the surer he got, as if he was finally becoming more confident in his own words and in himself. On the outside it might seem like the last thing Lance needed was more confidence but Keith had a growing suspicion that the opposite was true and it was mesmerizing to see that strength come to life. Oblivious to Keith’s staring Lance continued “Don’t you think that’s what Haggar wants? To make us feel like we can’t trust ourselves, like Shiro’s behavior is our fault and to make us too ashamed to discuss it and connect it all together?” Lance continued. “So yeah, at first I thought it was just me, I was sure of it even, but then Keith came and made me realize that I wasn’t the problem, he was. And the more people we talked to the more we realized that something was seriously wrong.” 

“Lance is right.” Matt piped up “I’ve known something was off with Shiro for a while but I thought it was just me so I was too embarrassed to say anything.”

Lance nodded “I get that we don’t have any physical evidence but I know what we’re saying is true and right now we need our team to help make it right. The real Shiro is out there and it’s up to us to find him.” He said with an authority that made Keith uncomfortably hot. 

Lance’s words seemed to have an impression on the others in the room as well, though he doubted they had the exact same kind of physical reaction he did. Allura’s doubtful expression had turned accepting and even Lotor looked pensive. 

“I do not know the Black Paladin as you do so I have to trust your judgement that something is amiss.” Lotor started slowly and Keith could already here the ‘but’ in his voice. “However, in accordance with your theory this clone has been here a while. How do we know if the original is still alive?” 

Keith stood up so quickly that he nearly knocked over his chair. He was only vaguely aware of Lance standing up just as quickly beside him to put a hand on his chest. That firm pressure the only thing stopping him from lunging over the table. “Don’t you dare say that! Shiro is out there and we have to go get him! He’d do the same thing for any of us!” Keith yelled, fury making him shake. Shiro wasn’t dead and he’d fight anyone who got in his way of finding him.

“Keith that’s enough.” Allura said sharply, standing with much more grace than he had, her palms flat against the table. She half stood in front of Lotor as if protecting him from Keith’s ire, Lotor for his part seemed surprised and slightly awestruck by the support. 

“Shiro went back for you when you were captured! And now when he needs us you’re willing to just give him up for dead!” He said, just so angry about this situation that it was hard for him to think straight.

“Nobody is giving up on Shiro.” Allura said sternly “But as painful as it is Lotor was right to ask that question. Your words are enough to suspect that we are dealing with a clone but Keith…what evidence do you have that Shiro is alive?” Again it was Allura’s tone that deflated his anger and her own deep sorrow at the possibility that Shiro might already be dead. 

Keith’s shoulders sunk as the root of his anger bubbled to the surface of his mind. He honestly didn’t have any clue whether Shiro was alive of not...

“I saw him.” Lance said, he still had a hand on Keith but it had changed from holding him back to holding on to him. It looked like Lance was just putting something together inside his head.

“You what?” Allura asked stunned “When?”

“Remember when we were fighting on Olkarion and we couldn’t move? We all went into that mythical mind-space thing but Shiro was blurry, kind of staticky?” Lance looked to the other Paladins. While Keith had no idea what he was talking about it seemed like they did. “Well after the rest of you left he was calling to me, telling me to listen to him...but I was pulled out before he could say what he wanted me to hear. Later I asked this Shiro what he was trying to say and he said he didn’t remember, that everything went dark for a while before Voltron regained power. At the time I just chalked it up to you know, weird robot magic. But now...what if that was the real Shiro in the mind-space? Connecting with his lion when we needed him most and trying to warn us that we were with an imposter!” Lance shook the hold he had on Keith’s clothing excitedly.

“Thanks to Keith we do know that a Paladin can connect with their lion over long distances.” Pidge pointed out. 

“Shiro is alive.” Lance laughed and it was kind of amazing to see him not questioning himself anymore.

“And even when he was being held prisoner he was there when you needed him.” Keith said, breaking away from staring at Lance in favor of looking over the others defiantly “Now it’s our turn to be there for him.” 

“I agree.” Lotor nodded and Keith's jaw fell “You must rescue your friend. He may still be alive now but as soon as Haggar is confident she won’t need him anymore she will find a way to get rid of him. We can not afford to let the Witch continue spying on our movements and having a hand in our actions.” 

Oh. Keith realized that Lotor didn’t care about rescuing Shiro as much as he wanted to thwart whatever plan Haggar was up to. Before he could muster up any sort of indignation Allura spoke again.

“I agree. Shiro has to be rescued.” She nodded, sliding back down into her seat and Keith felt Lance pulling him to sit back down as well. They both lowered themselves back into their seats as Pidge and Hunk agreed as well. 

“Do you have any idea where Shiro could be held?” Keith asked Lotor. He still didn’t like him but for now he could accept that they were working towards the same goal. 

“I haven’t heard anything about a human prisoner from any Galra who are loyal to me. He must be somewhere within the borders of the dissenters.” Lotor said thoughtfully and Keith groaned.

After Zarkon’s fall and Lotor’s rise the Galra empire had been thrown into upheaval. Entire quadrants were controlled by rogue generals and supply routes majorly disrupted, it was nearly impossible to move from system to system without running into some kind of problem. It was chaos.

“What about before the Empire split?” Pidge asked “A lab sophisticated enough to create a rapid aging, sentient clone and complete a neural transfer this sophisticated must be huge and highly complex. It’s not something that could be easily moved. I would think there’s a good chance Shiro’s still being held there in case they need more genetic material or brain scans.” 

Lotor paused “Of course.” he groaned

“What is it?” Allura asked putting a hand on Lotor’s arm and Keith finally saw what Lance had been going on about. There was a...softness in the way they treated each other. It seemed new and fragile but undeniable. But frankly he thought Allura could do better.

“There is a place. It’s on a planet orbiting two suns. The planet is full of volcanoes and full of Galran outposts. Most are manufacturing plants, the lava is used to assist in the construction of ships and other goods. But there is one outpost in the throat of the largest volcano that is different. There instead of ships other...enhancements are built. Your friend’s advanced arm for example. It’s where the Witch’s most complex blueprints come to life. And it is also very, very deep in disputed territory. It’s right where the fighting is most intense because whoever controls that planet controls the production of the newest, most technologically advanced fleets.” 

“You think that’s where Shiro is?” Keith asked and Lotor nodded.

“It is the most likely place. It has all the materials necessary for the development of clones and because of its location the base cannot be moved. With the current levels of fighting it’d be nearly impossible to get anyone out. If your friend was being kept there before my father’s death it is probable that he is still there now.” Lotor nodded. “But when I say the fighting is intense I’m not exaggerating. Even with the entire might of Voltron and much of my fleet it will be a difficult battle. To even get to the binary star system we may have to retake the whole area.”

“I can convince a lot of the rebels to join us.” Matt said immediately. 

“And I can see which Blade of Marmora soldiers are in the combat zone and try to convince Kolivan of the need to send more.” Krolia nodded.

“The Coalition exists to bring peace and stability to the universe. Stabilizing a perilous region and rescuing a Paladin of Voltron is a worthy cause to call on their aid.” Allura nodded and for the first time since he walked in on Shiro yelling at Lance Keith finally felt some hope. 

“Hey guys. Not to be a downer but Clone Shiro is still the Black Paladin. What are we supposed to tell him about this?” Hunk asked, raising his hand as he spoke as if they were in a classroom. 

The room quieted as everyone considered what Hunk just said. 

“Keith used to pilot the Black Lion, what if he does it again?” Matt asked 

“I’m sure the Witch is capable of seeing through her clone’s eyes. If she realizes what we’re up to she could take control over him completely and have him cause a lot of damage while we’re away.” Lotor said

“We can’t leave him here with Coran and the other diplomats.” Allura agreed “It’s best to keep him close, bring him with us and say our mission’s sole purpose is to stabilize the fighting in that region. Hopefully he and the Witch do not realize our true motive until we are close enough to free the real Shiro.”

“That’s dangerous, keeping him in the Black Lion.” Matt said worriedly 

“There’s four of us and only one of him. I think it’s a risk we have to take.” Allura sighed.

“If he’s not really Shiro how is he able to fly the Black Lion in the first place?” Hunk asked

“He thinks he’s the real Shiro.” Lance sighed, looking worried, that look causing a wave of dread in Keith.

“But it’s not him.” Keith shook his head, trying to reassure Lance that they were doing the right thing and they couldn’t think about the feelings of this pretend thing. 

“I know that and at first the Black Lion rejected him remember? The Black Lion knew that this wasn’t the real Shiro before any of us did but they made a new connection because there was enough of Shiro inside that clone that he wanted to help us when we were loosing a bad battle.”

“What are you saying Lance?” Allura asked

“Look, this clone isn’t our Shiro and we have to go get the real Shiro back. That’s all gonna happen but Pidge said it herself, this clone is a sentient thing and it’s being manipulated by the Witch. Maybe it needs saving too.”

“You’re kidding right?” Lotor asked and Keith nodded.

“I agree with him.” Keith never thought he’d be put in the position to agree with Lotor, damn Lance and his bleeding heart. “Come on Lance, you heard my mother. He’ll melt like wax if he’s killed. He’s not real.”

“What does it matter what he’s made out of?” Lance challenged him, he always challenged him. “I’ve met mermaids, people that look like they’re made of rocks and the Balmera is literally a giant, petrified creature that grows ship powering crystals. I’ve looked in this clone’s eyes, seen its confusion, its fear. He knows there’s something wrong with him but he has no idea what. We’re going to be in this lab anyways, if we can don’t you think we should try and find a way to cut his connection to the Witch and let him become his own person?”

“Lance is right.” Allura said, pride and respect coloring her voice this time and Keith realized that so much of her diplomatic power came from her voice. “If we can save him we should try.”

Lotor let out a long sigh but he didn’t argue with Allura which under different circumstances might make him laugh. “If it’s what you think is best Princess.”

“This plan has a lot of variables.” Pidge said “I think we should try and knock out some of them. Control what we can and try to make plans for when things go wrong. I’m sure it will take a few Vargas for the coalition, rebels and Blade of Marmora to assemble.” 

Matt and Krolia left to contact the Rebels and the Blade while Allura briefly went to instruct Coran to assemble the coalition. Once she returned they pulled themselves up close to the table and started to strategize for whatever they could think of. As they spoke Keith felt a knee bump against his own. He looked over and met Lance’s gaze. 

‘Thanks man’ Lance mouthed silently and for once Keith had no trouble understanding another person. Not the vague hunches he sometimes got but true understanding. He knew that Lance was thanking him for believing in him and getting the ball rolling.

‘Anytime’ he mouthed back but when Lance smiled at him it wasn’t happy or grateful like he expected, instead it was...resigned. And Keith knew what it meant because he had seen that same look reflected on his own face countless times before. Lance smiled with the pained certainty that ‘anytime’ while well meaning, was an empty promise because it was only a matter of time before Keith left him behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there is part b of my long split chapter. We have finally made some headway and have a plan for rescuing Shiro! Yay! But while that's moved forward Keith is also finally beginning to realize that he's not the only one with insecurities. Even so I loved how S5 started to strengthen Lance's character and wanted to continue on in that same vein.
> 
> And before someone gets mad about Lotor's motivation I figure that he barely knows clone Shiro let alone the real one and doesn't feel the same emotional connection as the others do, he does however know Haggar and realize what a threat she is so that's what he bases his decision on. I didn't want to make him seem heartless but at the same time I didn't think he could be randomly panicking over Shiro's wellbeing either. And any animosity you sense towards Lotor is because this chapter is from Keith's perspective and Keith does not like him. Me? I'm just jealous of Lotor's hair.
> 
> And last point is the Klingon vs. Jem'Hadar joke. I actually got my mother to watch Voltron because I sold it loosely as an animated Deep Space Nine and she and I had the same debate whether the Galra were more like the Klingons or the Jem'Hadar.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhhh, I hit 100 comments! Yay! Thank you everyone who's been reading this and kept up with this story so far, we still have a bit to go but I wanted to add an extra thank you here to celebrate this milestone.

To say their plan was rough would be the understatement of the year. They were going to try and stabilize a massive area of space, rescue the real Shiro from a planet full of Galra bases plus one of the most secret and secure labs in all of the Empire all while concealing from the clone and Hagar their true intentions.   
Sure they now had plans and back up plans for a number of things that could go wrong but if Lance had learned anything during this war it was that he could never predict what was going to happen next.

He was heading back towards his room to get his gear on when Hunk caught up to him in the hallway. 

“Hey man, what a day.” Hunk said in lieu of a traditional greeting.

“And we haven’t even started on our crazy rescue mission yet.” Lance laughed dryly. 

“It was your idea.”

“Yeah yeah, I know.” He groaned. Yes he was relieved they were going after the real Shiro but there were so many ways this plan could fail that it had him on edge.

“You know...Keith seemed pretty gung-ho about defending you.” Hunk waggled his eyebrows. While Lance had never admitted to his odd feelings about Keith aloud Hunk read between the lines. Honestly if he were to consider it Hunk probably knew something was up all the way back at the Garrison when Lance never shut up about ‘the jerk that was always ahead of him.’

“He’s mostly just worried about Shiro but...he can be a good friend when he wants to be.” Lance admitted

“Just a good friend?” Hunk asked with a grin and Lance laughed, shaking his head.

“It’s Keith.” Lance protested as if that was really a good enough argument for someone who knew him as well as Hunk did.

“Yeah, exactly. It’s Keith who you never shut up about at the Garrison, or after he was kicked out, or when we started piloting Voltron or, like, ever.” Hunk said with a smile in his voice even as he tried and failed to keep his face neutral.

“Look. Maybe I... _appreciate_ him more than I used to. But Keith would never you know, _appreciate_ me back. Not like that.”

“Uhh.” Hunk made a noise of disagreement “You know when you’re eating cereal and you don’t think there’s a prize with that kind but all of a sudden one falls out of the box? And it’s like the coolest prize ever?” Hunk asked “Well Keith looks at you like you’re that unexpected prize.” 

Lance blinked at him surprised. “You really think so?” He asked slowly. 

Hunk nodded his head vigorously “Yeah. I mean everyone thinks so. Pidge has a bet with nearly everyone on when you two are going to kiss already.”  
Lance groaned and face palmed “She does?”

“Look man, Keith’s not good with reading other people and feelings right? Well he’s also not very good at hiding his own.” Hunk laughed

“Well, everyone falls for the Lance charm sooner or later.” Lance joked a bit. It felt good to finally talk about this with someone. When it first started he attributed the burning in his stomach whenever Keith was around to their natural rivalry, even after they became friends he just thought it was an unhealthy competitive streak. It wasn’t until he heard about Keith almost dying at Naxzela that he realized how badly he had crossed the line from rivals, to friends, to something more. And ever since that realization he had been doing his best to ignore the feelings, telling himself that his crush would fade, it had to. Despite his best efforts, recent events had forced him to see that the crush was doing the exact opposite of fading, it was growing into something much more serious.

He always thought his first love was Jenny González and the way her French plaits caught the sun on the first grade playground. But what had been growing inside him for Keith surpassed that by leaps and bounds and knocked the breath right out of him. It was exciting but also overwhelmingly terrifying because he actually knew Keith and knew how he was with emotions.

“You should say something to him.” Hunk suggested and while Lance knew Hunk just wanted to see him happy he couldn’t help the spike of panic that leapt into his throat.

“Nooooo. No no no no no.” Lance shook his head quickly 

“Aww, why not? You like him, he likes you....“ Hunk trailed off significantly. 

“Because.” Lance didn’t think he should have to explain but at Hunk’s perplexed look he did. “It’s still Keith, you know, the guy who bolts whenever someone gets close to him. Even if he has a thing for me too, the best way to never see him again is to tell him how I feel.” 

“I don’t know, I think he might be happy-“ Hunk’s sentence broke off into a high pitched scream when Lance opened the door to his room only to find Keith himself standing in the center of the room. 

“Heeeeeey” Lance said awkwardly and winced. Not even Keith could be so oblivious that he didn’t realize they were just talking about him. He quickly tried to cover up his nerves by putting his hands on his hips "How'd you get into my room?"

“Hey? And you forgot to lock your room, you always forget.” Keith said, giving them an odd look.

“Well then, I’m going to go. Away. To my room. To get ready. Have a good talk! Bye.” Hunk waved and ran off, Lance glaring after him petulantly until Keith clearing his throat brought his attention back to him. 

“I thought you and your mom were already getting ready to go...?” Lance said nervously, stepping into the room, the doors whizzing shut behind him. That part of the plan was at least straightforward. Keith and Krolia would pilot their own fighter into the battle with the other Blades. Then when they were close enough to the binary star system they’d break off and join Voltron for entry on to the volcanic planet. 

“She’s finishing up some coordination things with Kolivan and I wanted to talk to you about something.” Keith said, looking as awkward as Lance had ever seen him. He would have thought that seeing Keith this nervous would bring a litany of jokes to his tongue but the only thing it brought on was an overwhelming discomfort. After all, whatever was getting Keith so nervous couldn’t be good news for him. 

“Does it have to be now? I need to get my gear on and stuff.” Lance said, feeling the irrational need to put off whatever conversation Keith wanted to have.  
“It will be quick. I think.” Keith sighed, crossing his arms and Lance flashed back to the detective shows his sister always watched and how they used to say a suspect crossing his arms was an unconscious way of protecting themselves.

“Okay...What is it?” Lance asked but was met with silence. He groaned and waved his arms around “I can’t read your mind mullet head!”

The jab seemed to be enough to get Keith going. “I wanted you to know that I meant it. When I said anytime. Anytime you need me I’ll be there.” 

Lance felt the urge to cross his own arms in response to that, barely resisting. “Okay. I appreciate that…is that all?” He asked slowly, hoping that he was finished. Part of him was surprised Keith was talking about this at all, another part of him felt like he should have expected it. If he thought there was a problem Keith had a tendency to charge at it full force.

“No.” Keith shook his head and Lance swore internally “You said you appreciate it but I want to know whether you believe me or not. I had a moment that I’ve never had before, not with anyone and I...I understood you, what was in your eyes.”

“My eyes? What is that supposed to mean? And what is up with you and moments?” Lance asked, voice higher pitched than he’d ever admit to. He fell back to his natural defense against uncomfortable conversations, joking. “I know my eyes are dreamy but I think this is the first time they’ve made someone go insane.” He forced a laugh but the noise died in his throat when Keith stomped over to him and for a crazy moment Lance wasn’t sure whether he was going to get kissed or punched. And honestly he didn’t know which possibility scared him more. 

In the end neither happened and Keith stopped only a foot in front of him. If Lance reached out he’d be able to touch him. 

“I just want to know whether you believed me or not.” Keith said through clenched teeth as if having this conversation was causing him actual physical pain. Knowing what a tight lid Keith kept on his emotions this discomfort was probably comparable to being punched.

“Look, we’ve been doing really well lately at not fighting and I want to keep it that way.” Lance decided that that if joking wasn’t going to work he’d try reason. “We should be focusing on rescuing Shiro.”

“I know that!” Keith said heatedly “But I can’t think straight until I know!” He said with such frustration that Lance realized how much this was bothering him. 

“Dude, I don’t think the answer will be any better.” Lance shook his head and Keith ran a hand, distractingly, through his hair. Thankfully Keith took that for the answer it was.

“Why don’t you believe me?” Keith asked and Lance hated the hurt, the hurt that he put there which is why he never said anything before.

“It’s nothing man.” He tried to blow it off, hoping that if he treated it like nothing then it wouldn’t weigh on Keith so much. 

“No. Don’t do that.” Keith said immediately. 

“Do what?”

“Pretend it doesn’t matter. I hate it when you do that, when you act like everything just rolls off your shoulders.” Keith said sharply “It doesn’t do any good either. It was only when we all started talking and sharing our concerns about Shiro that we realized the truth. Keeping secrets, shouldering burdens alone, it doesn’t do anyone any good!” Lance sighed, he really hated it when Keith was right. Beyond measurement actually. Keith seemed to take that sigh as some kind of acceptance “I just want to know why you don’t trust me.”

“It’s not that. I know that when you’re here you’ve got my back. I’ve known that for a while and this whole thing with Shiro has proved it to me without a doubt. But that’s just it. You’re not always here, you leave…like a lot man.” 

“What?” Keith looked stricken and Lance could guess why. Just like he said to Hunk earlier, Keith was a runner. Someone who detached himself from people before they could hurt him, with so far only Shiro cracking the code to getting through his walls. But Keith was probably so busy keeping a distance between himself and the people around him that he never realized what it felt like for the people he was pushing away. 

Normally he could accept that as Keith just being Keith. They all had insecurities and most days Lance did what he could to respect that despite his regular teasing he was careful not to go too far. Today wasn’t one of those days, today he just got angry. Maybe it was the stress of everything going on with Shiro or because Keith barged into his room and demanded he explain his private thoughts. Either way Lance was done.

“You’re the one always leaving okay? When you got kicked out of the Garrison, when you kept on running off alone to look for Shiro, when you joined the Blade of Marmora. That was always you leaving and I...I’ve always been here, waiting. Every time you’ve come back I’ve still been here.” He said, voice low with anger but not cruelty. He wasn’t trying to hurt Keith with his words but Keith demanded honesty so that’s what he got. “So no Keith, while I appreciate what you meant I don’t believe you. I gave up on anytime a long time ago.”

Keith looked at him with wide eyes but before he could say anything there was a knock on Lance’s door.

“Let’s go Lance, no fashionably late entrances today!” Pidge called. 

“I have to get ready and you have to go meet your mother.” Lance said softly, grabbing his armor and going into his bathroom to change. By the time he came out again Keith was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wah wah wah...
> 
> I hated doing this, the boys were doing so well but the amazing Voltron writers gave us characters with very human flaws and anxieties to work with and I didn't want to ignore that. Lance's hidden insecurity and Keith's problems opening up could easily clash and I wanted to explore that, especially concerning how Keith has some clear abandonment issues and yet he's the one always leaving. I love Keith but that boy needs to answer for some shit. And I think confronting this will help Lance continue on his journey of becoming more confident and learning not to doubt his worth to the team and his friends. 
> 
> I just like explaining a bit of my thought process behind these decisions so you know I'm not just pulling plot points out of my nose for the hell of it and there is a point to making our boys suffer. Sometimes things have to get worse before they get better and I promise that this opens the door for some fun conversations later.
> 
> And I think with this chapter I've officially given Hunk more dialogue than the past 2 seasons of Voltron combined :P


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well here we are with the next chapter. If you're here for action and the Shiro rescue then this chapter is definitely more of a filler, if you're here for the boys and their constipated emotions then I think chapter is a bit more satisfying but still somewhat of a filler as we head towards this story's climax.

“You seem disturbed.” Krolia said, their shuttle was leading the group of Blade of Marmora ships. It was going to take a bit to arrive at the disputed region, leaving Keith some time to think about what Lance said.

His first instinct was to respond with anger, to defend himself and tell him that he was acting just like the Shiro clone. But Keith quickly realized that wasn’t true. Where the clone Shiro lashed out with the precision cruelty of hitting Lance exactly where it would hurt the most, Lance had done whatever he could to steer the conversation away from painful topics but Keith had stupidly pushed. With that thought his anger dissipated, how could he be mad at Lance when he was the one that demanded the truth. It wasn’t Lance’s fault that he hadn’t liked the truth that came out. 

“Keeeeith?” Krolia questioned, prodding him with her foot. 

“What? Huh?” Keith looked up, only to see her blinking expectantly back at him. “I’m sorry did you say something?” 

“You seem disturbed.” Krolia repeated herself. “You said you were going to talk with Lance before we left. Did something happen?”

“Remember when you told me to be careful...? That if I keep on pushing someone away and pretending they don’t mean anything to me that the person might take that at face value?” Keith asked slowly, picking at a small run in the knee of his Blade suit. It took a lot of force to damage the suit which was made of some super strong yet flexible material Keith couldn’t pronounce. He couldn’t remember the blow that caused the tear either, even though it must have been substantial, he had done so much fighting lately that it all ran together.

“Yeah, I remember.” Krolia said and adjusted their heading on the ship’s controls before putting it on autopilot so she could walk over and sit beside him.

“Well I...I think I did that to Lance...” he admitted.

“Okay.” Krolia nodded

“Okay?” Keith looked up at her “Why aren’t you more surprised? I’m surprised!”

“For someone who has such problems interpreting the feelings of others you sure do wear yours on your arms.” Krolia said and even in his foul mood Keith couldn’t help but crack a little smile at his mother’s broken use of Earth sayings.

“Sleeve. It’s wear your heart on you sleeve.” He explained softly “Do I really do that? Most people say that I’m...well a grouch is putting it kindly.”

“Maybe that’s what they say to your face but I think your friends at least know you better than that. Then again, I am your mother so maybe I was just looking closer than other people but I could see it, from the first moment you introduced me to Lance. There was fondness there as well as fear and fire, those three things can only equal one thing. You really had no idea?”

“I mean...I knew that there was a pull between us. I never had so much fun arguing with someone before.” And there were some very enlightening dreams but there was no way he’d be mentioning that to his mother. “I just thought...I don’t know, that it didn’t matter what I felt because he’s never feel the same way and even if he did it would never work out.” 

“Why not?” His mother asked a patient tone in her voice

“We’re just too different.” 

“Your father and I were literally different species.” Krolia laughed a little bit 

“Right.” Keith sighed, flopping his head forward. “I just mean that Lance can be so outgoing. He loves parties and people and I...don’t. I’d much rather stay in and train. He’d get bored with me.” 

“I never got bored with Owen and he was the same way, he hated going out, not that I could go out much except on Halloween or if I was really feeling cooped up I’d sneak out on the full moon and scare the shit out of people.”

Keith gaped at her, having no clue what to say to that. He suddenly wished Lance was there, he would have loved to see his reaction to that statement. 

“You smiled. What were you thinking about just now?” Krolia asked curiously

“Nothing.” Keith shook his head

His mother sighed with disappointment, that answer obviously not what she had been looking for. “Why do you deny thinking about him? Even now when it’s just the two of us and I already know how you feel about him?” She asked and Keith paused, taking a moment to consider it. 

“I’m not...I’m not sure...” he groaned, burying his face in his hands, taking a moment to collect his thoughts before looking up again. “I just always thought that love and relationships weren’t worth it. You grow old, you change and that person isn’t right for you anymore. Or they never were right to begin with, they were just putting up a false front to get you in bed. Either way I figured most relationships fail so why put myself through that? And now...now..."

“You thought you could control how you feel and now you’re angry that you can’t?” Krolia interpreted his words so well that Keith was struck again with the sorrow that she had been absent for so much of his life. Having her around to translate his feelings into words would have been very helpful. 

“Yeah. I mean I tried to keep Lance at barely friends but...it’s Lance, he snuck his way in without me even realizing it.” Keith sighed. 

“Your father did the same thing to me. Do you think I wanted to fall in love with a human? Actually falling in love at all was never a part of my plan, let alone having a family.” She said softly “And in the end...yeah it broke my heart and your father’s when I left but I still wouldn’t change it for anything in the universe. Some pain is worth it Keith. I’d rather have loved your father and lost him than never have known him at all.” 

“I just...I don’t know if I have it in me to handle getting hurt. Not after loosing you, loosing dad...even loosing Shiro. I can’t loose Lance too. He’s ridiculous but he’s important to me.” He admitted even has he choked on the words. Vulnerability tasted worse than defeat, at least in defeat he knew he had put up a fight, being vulnerable felt like giving up on the fight.

“Well...are you okay with the fact that you’re hurting him?”

“I never meant to!” He protested

“And I never meant to hurt you by leaving either but as we’ve established, there are consequences to our actions.” Krolia pointed out “But you know, I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your friend Lance seems to me to be a lot more patient than you give him credit for. I’ve never seen him make overtures that have made you uncomfortable, right?”

“Lance and I poke fun at each other but no, he’s never tried to push me into any sort of relationship. But I mean I’m not even convinced he thinks about me like that-“

“Honey he does. You know he does. Just don’t." Krolia seemed to have run out of patience for that line of thought. "Denying his feelings only does you and him a disservice.” Krolia said sternly and Keith grumbled but didn’t argue. 

“From what I hear he’s very open when he finds someone attractive. And yet he doesn’t make the same propositions towards you even though we both know that he harbors feelings for you. Why do you think that is?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t want to mess up the team?” Keith shrugged

“You stopped piloting a lion a while ago though.” She pointed out

Keith thought about it, leaning his head back against a bulkhead. “Maybe because he knew it’d make me uncomfortable but I mean he’s always making fun of me.”

“There’s a big difference between pestering you about your combat skills or piloting which you’re confident in and challenging your heart which you’re far less comfortable with.” Krolia shrugged “I think Lance has lines that he hasn’t crossed with you because he knows it’d make you uncomfortable. And if you eventually decide, on your own, to acknowledge the feelings between you both I suspect he’d treat you with the same consideration and move at whatever pace you’re comfortable with. He respects you as a friend and a teammate above all else.”

“And in return I’ve hurt him exactly the way I’ve been hurt and let my doubts about love dismiss his feelings...” Keith finally accepted and understood exactly how awful he had been. 

“Yeah...you did.” Krolia said sadly “But you also defended him when no one else would, you comforted him and built him up, helped him find a new confidence within himself. You’ve done good things too Keith, you just have a bit further to go.”

“What do I do next? How do I make this right?” Keith asked, steeling himself to jump through whatever fire he had to.

“Well, first you need to decide what it is you want. Deciding to stay just friends isn’t a bad thing so long as you’re not doing it just out of fear. Or if you decide you want to try a romance then do it for yourself, not just because you want to make Lance feel better. He’s a perceptive boy, he’d be able to see if you’re forcing yourself into the relationship.”

“It wouldn’t exactly be a hardship.” Keith said, surprising even himself with that realization. He’d be lying if he said he never considered what an ideal relationship would be like but for him it was akin to imagining a fairy tale, an unrealistic but fulfilling story where someone loved him for him. Even so, despite his fears and doubts the thought of being with Lance was oddly comforting. Like hot chocolate on a winter's day. 

Krolia laughed “Well then-“ she broke off when the sensors began to go off. She stood quick and sprinted over to the controls, Keith following immediately after. “We’re coming up on the embattled territory. Get into tactical position, this ride is about to get a lot bumpier.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew! I feel like that was a lot of dialogue that only moved us a few steps forward. But like I said, this was kind of a filler chapter but I still important in the sense that Keith having his mother back in his life is the thing that's finally helping him sort through all these emotions and insecurities. He's finally starting to realize that yes emotions are scary but they can be exciting too. 
> 
> Next chapter! The battle to find Shiro finally begins!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo hoo! Made it to chapter 10 so far!   
> This chapter is kind of the opposite of the last chapter. More action, less feelings. Voltron is such a visual show that it makes it hard to write these action scenes at least somewhat convincingly without being _that_ person who uses five adjective in an eight word sentence. So hopefully I'm able to give you at least somewhat of a mental picture without going too overboard.

“On the left!” Lance yelled, swooping the Red Lion down to dodge a blaster just before it hit him full force. 

“I’ve got it!” Allura responded through the communication channels and a moment later he heard the explosion of another Galran enemy cruiser. 

The area around them was chaos, fighting was everywhere. Lotor, who commanded the friendly Galran fleet, had given them shield frequencies but that only took care of the ships who were dumb enough not to change their defense configurations after breaking away from the Empire. The rest were much harder to fight because each faction wanted to prove themselves to be superior, they had nothing to loose and everything to gain. 

“They’re coming from everywhere!” Pidge said frustrated and he could hear the strain in her voice as she made a tough maneuver to escape weapons fire. 

Lance looked out his view screen at the battle in front of him. In the far distance he could see the red of the volcanic planet they were trying to reach. It seemed so close and so far away at the same time. Instead of stars he saw the flashes of particle cannons and exploding ships. Occasionally he caught one of the other lions zipping by or he heard Matt on the comms, riding with Pidge in her lion, he even caught a glimpse of Lotor’s massive command battleship. Who he didn’t see was Keith. Between the coalition members, the rebels and the Blade of Marmora there were so many little ships zipping through the fighting it was hard to keep track of them all. 

Lance hated not knowing where Keith was, whether he was out there still fighting, injured or worse. He was afraid that one of those explosions in the distance was Keith and he just didn’t know it yet. It caused a wave of numbing panic to weigh down his limbs. Unfortunately that had become a familiar feeling ever since Keith left to fight with the Blade of Marmora. It was something that weighed on him often but in that moment, during the midst of battle the fear was pushed to the forefront of his mind.

He didn’t want the last thing he ever said to Keith to be something that came from anger and hurt. While his words had been painfully true they also left a sour taste in his mouth because Keith was so much more than just someone who left. They had worked so hard to become teammates and friends, he didn’t want to see their relationship degrade into mindless rivalry and fighting again. 

Wait, rivalry and fighting.

“Hey guys. I have an idea.” Lance said suddenly, once the thought came to him he wondered why they hadn’t come up with this tactic before. It was so obvious! 

“Yeah I’m ready to try anything right now!” Hunk yelled as his lion collided with an aggressive Galran ship, thankfully the Yellow Lion’s armaments were more than enough to handle the blow.

“Watch me!” Lance called and put himself between two Galran ships from different factions. He let off some potshots to get their attention and right when he saw their cannons light up he grinned, waiting until just after they fired to dodge out of the way. Instead of hitting him the powerful blasts hit the other Galran ship. 

Just as Lance had hoped the two Galran factions didn’t take that kindly and instead of fighting Voltron or the Coalition they began to fight each other. Soon other ships from their factions joined in and for the first time Lance started to see a break in the fighting and a path towards the volcanic planet. 

“Brilliant idea Lance!” Allura called 

“If we can get the different rogue Galra factions to fight each other then that’s less work we have to do.” Lance nodded

“You always were a genius at finding your way out of work.” Pidge teased and Lance laughed 

“Yeah well you’re even better than I am at starting fights so this should be perfect for you.” He responded. After Keith Pidge was his favorite person to verbally spar with. 

“Enough you two.” Shiro’s voice came over the comms and Lance tensed up. His tone was amused and indulgent and Lance could almost believe it really was Shiro fighting with them. This was the first time he had heard from Shiro since his angry outburst earlier, there had been no apology this time. If Lance didn’t know better he could almost believe the argument never happened. That’s probably what the clone unknowingly wanted, act like everything was normal, don’t draw attention to himself. “We're making great progress towards securing this region but there's still a lot of work to do.” Shiro continued and Lance let out a quiet breath of relief. So far Shiro hadn't caught on to their true plan and hopefully that meant Haggar hadn’t either.

The other lions moved forward, alternating between fighting rogue Galran ships and trying to pit the separate factions against each other. Thankfully the sensor codes Lotor gave them helped to distinguish between his Galran fleet and the enemy, not that Lance wasn’t tempted to _accidentally_ throw a few light shots his way but before he could give it any real consideration he caught sight of a shuttle under heavy fire. Keith’s shuttle. 

While initially relieved that Keith’s shuttle hadn’t been destroyed in the fighting he quickly realized that wouldn’t be true much longer if he didn’t intervene. Without hesitating he swooped in and fired on the attacking Galran vessel. It only took a few shots before the ship exploded. Lance flew himself in front of Keith and Krolia’s ship, adjusting his comm away from the other lions to talk privately to their ship. 

“Your savior is here!” Lance announced dramatically, telling himself to play it cool. He figured Keith would probably ignore his outburst so Lance decided to do the same. If he could act like it didn’t happen then maybe they could move on as if it hadn’t. 

“We were handling it!” Keith shot back, if his voice sounded a little strained, like he was forcing the fire into it well Lance just thought it was the stress of battle. 

“He means thank you for the assistance.” Krolia responded, a little whap audible as she no doubt smacked the back of Keith’s head.

Lance laughed, as much as Keith’s tendency to leave hurt him he was glad that it had led him to find Krolia. She was great. And it was just another sign that he was going to have to accept Keith’s departures. They were for the good of the galaxy and Keith’s own personal good. Lance wouldn’t take that sense of purpose away from him just to make himself feel better. 

“Follow me. We’re breaking through to the planet.” Lance told them. With his heroic detour to rescue his damsel in distress Keith he had fallen behind the rest of the Lions. 

“Right behind you.” Krolia acknowledged and Lance waited until their shuttle reached his side before flying towards the planet again. 

The other lions ahead of him tore a path through to the planet. The rogue Galran factions fought each other with coalition members picking them off. Aside from a few stray ships, which he easily dispatched with his lion, it was a quick trip to the volcanic planet. 

For a moment he let himself get optimistic that this plan might actually go smoothly. After all they already made it over the first major hurdle of reaching the planet. Maybe all that worrying and planning had been overcautious. 

He really should have known better than to hope that. 

Nearly as soon as he got comfortable with those hopeful thoughts he caught sight of something that sent any positive feelings plummeting. The other four lions were in the planet’s atmosphere, Blue, Green and Yellow all fighting against the Black Lion. 

“Quiznak.” By that point the alien swear word felt as natural as the ones he grew up with on Earth. He flipped his comms back to the other lions and immediately heard the panicked chatter of the other Paladins. 

“What happened?” Lance asked, diving into the fight. He didn’t have to look to know Keith and Krolia’s stupid little shuttle was following right behind him. Why hadn’t he insisted Keith take a stronger ship again? Oh yeah, he was too busy complaining about his feelings. Dammit. 

“The Witch must have realized what we were doing!” Allura answered first. “As soon as we tried to breach the atmosphere the Black Lion turned on us!”

“Shiro! Shiro stop!” Matt yelled from the green lion, trying desperately to reach whatever bit of Shiro was inside the clone. Unfortunately his pleas didn’t seem to have the intended affect, if anything the blasts from the Black Lion came faster. 

“Stop yelling in my ear he can’t understand you!” Pidge yelled at her brother and Lance realized she was probably right. This was all Haggar’s doing, the clone probably wasn’t in control at all anymore.

That realization fueled him forward. He hoped they’d be able to save the clone but at the same time he couldn’t hold back and risk the entire success of the mission just because it looked like Shiro. In that moment he was just another enemy to get past. 

“We have to get him to the surface and out of the Lion!” Lance called 

“Okay. Great. How?” Hunk called, barely able to move out of the way of a powerful cannon blast from the Black Lion. 

“You guys get him to the surface and I’ll get him out of the lion.” Keith said, someone, Pidge probably, managed to loop him into the lion’s main comm line and, he assumed, shut the clone out of the conversation somehow. Hey, he was a pilot, not an engineer or a receptionist. He didn’t know how to assemble a Space conference call.

“Okay. Keith’s got extraction.” Lance said, with Shiro obviously out of commission he stepped up to lead the rest of the mission. He didn’t even think about it actually, he just leapt into action to coordinate the four separate lions into one attack, that was the only way they would be able to bring down the Black Lion. 

As they fought they had descended through the atmospheric layers and were clearing the clouds. He could see the world below full of sand a rocks. It was a dessert with rivers of lava and occasional lakes of water that bubbled like a hot springs. It wasn’t hard to find the planet’s largest volcano that Lotor spoke of. One volcanoes towered above the others, nearly touching the clouds in its height and its width made it difficult to see around. 

“Alright. Pidge. Allura and I are going to get his attention and draw his fire. While he’s focused on us I want you to come up behind him and use those vines to bind him as tightly as you can.” Lance said, building the idea in his head as he spoke.

“The lions are made of a unique alloy. I don’t know how long the vines will hold.” Pidge warned

“That’s alright, we just need it to hold long enough for Hunk to grab on to the Black Lion and body slam it into the rim of the volcano’s crater.”

“What now?” Hunk asked 

“You can do it, the armor on the Yellow Lion is perfect for this sort of thing. Just think of it like extreme bumper cars.” Lance promised “Once you’ve got the Black Lion on the ground stay on top of it, dig your super claws into the rock if you have to, just keep it still while Keith and Krolia go inside to apprehend the clone. Everyone got it?” He asked and waited until he heard confirmation from everyone before getting into position.

Lance flew over to Allura, both of them alternating in their attacks to get the clone’s attention. They used fire, ice and cannon blasts all to engage the Black Lion. It took a heavy volley of attacks but the clone was left no choice but to focus his attacks on them. When he turned to engage them it opened himself up to Pidge’s attack. The vines wrapped around the exterior of the Black Lion, binding its legs together and causing it to seize up. As its propulsion failed Hunk dove down from above and grabbed on to the Black Lion. Hunk pushed them down faster and faster until they hit the rocks on the crater of the volcano, causing a cloud of dust and debris to cover the area, cutting off his view of the Black and Yellow Lions.

“Hunk. You alright there buddy?” Lance asked, heart pounding in his chest as he watched Keith’s little ship dive into the debris cloud and listened to the line crackle silently for a moment.

“Yeah I’m good.” Hunk finally responded and there was a sigh of relief from every other Paladin.

“Keith’s on his way to you. Just hold on a bit longer.” Lance said, moving closer to the debris cloud that was finally starting to clear up. He could see the outlines of the Lions and Keith’s ship.

“He’s starting to break through the vines guys!” Hunk called

“Just keep him down Hunk. Keith and Krolia are on their way. You’ve got this.” Lance promised his friend.

The debris was almost completely clear and Lance flew lower, coming in for a landing and to help if he could. He saw the Yellow Lion, claws dug into the rocks, doing its best to hold the Black Lion down but the clone wasn’t giving up without a fight. They wouldn’t stop moving, breaking the vines that held it back one by one. 

Then suddenly the movement stopped, the Black Lion going still. 

Lance landed his lion and got out, holding his bayard at the ready just in case. Behind him he could hear Allura and Pidge, along with Matt, landing and exiting their lions as well. He ran to where the Black Lion was pressed into the rock, as they approached the Lion’s mouth opened. He readied himself for a fight but let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding when Keith exited the Lion, followed by Krolia who carried the unconscious Shiro Clone. 

“We did it!” Hunk slid out of the Yellow Lion and down its leg to land near the rest of them. The heat so close to the mouth of the volcano was extraordinary but for a moment Lance didn’t care, he just needed to take a moment to soak in the fact that they made it this far. 

“You did great man.” Lance clapped Hunk on the shoulder.

“We aren’t done yet.” Allura reminded, she was looking over the crater’s edge and inspecting the compound below.

The lab hovered over the center of the volcano’s vent shaft, lava bubbling beneath it. It was held in place by three catwalks that connected to the outer walls of the volcanic rock. 

“The lions won’t be able to fit into that catwalk. We’ll have to propel down and break in on foot.” Lance said.

“I’ll stay here with the clone and your lions.” Krolia offered “I have restraints in the shuttle and will call to let the others know to keep enemy ships away from our location.”

“Will you be alright here alone? Do you want one of us to stay with you?” Lance asked, seeing Keith’s worried face. 

“I’ll be fine. You all go, save your friend.” Krolia nodded and Lance readied himself.

“Alright. Let’s go find Shiro.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Clone is napping! Now lets see if they can find the real Shiro! It's getting dramatic nooooow! Honestly I think I'm as excited to write the next chapter as you are to read it.
> 
> So on a completely different note, at one point I was going to use the phrase "go up in smoke" to describe an exploding Galran ship. Then I paused and I wondered that if something exploded in space is there smoke? Nobody I asked seemed to know the answer and when I googled it I got a lot of responses concerning whether fire burned in space but not really anything conclusive about smoke. So if any of you science folks know the answer to that let me know.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops. I got a bit carried away again. This chapter is also more than twice as long as my usual chapters but this time I decided not to split it in half because I didn't want to ruin the flow of action. I'll admit I'm not sure that was the right choice, even at over 4k I feel like I sort of rushed some parts but oh well, I was excited. I've had a lot of this chapter planned from the beginning of the story and I was happy to finally do it! Hopefully you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay here?” Keith asked his mother, the other Paladins standing several feet away preparing their rigging for the climb down. The jet packs could only handle so much in the planet’s gravity and rising heat of the volcano. 

“I’ll be fine. I’ve been fighting longer than you’ve been alive.” Krolia reminded “I can handle this. Besides, I know you’re in good hands.” She winked, sending a meaningful look over to Lance who was helping Allura with her ropes. 

“Mooooom” he groaned, feeling his cheeks heat up. As embarrassing as it was he couldn’t help but smile a bit. He couldn’t get over the fact that he had a mother and that she was here next to him, teasing him.

“Good luck.” Krolia pulled him into a hug and Keith only stiffened up a moment before melting into the embrace and hugging her back.

“I’ll see you soon.” He swore and let out a quiet laugh when she let go and pushed him over towards the other Paladins.

“Play nice with the other kids honey! But don’t forget to kick some ass!” She yelled loud enough for the others to hear. “You too Lance!” She added and Keith covered his face in embarrassment, especially when Lance yelled back.

“I’ll blast a few just for you!” He promised with a thumbs up.

“Don’t encourage her.” Keith grumbled

“You love it that I encourage her.” Lance responded and Keith let out a soft chuckle. 

“You’re happier since you found her, you laugh more. I like that...” Lance said softly, so quietly Keith wasn’t sure he was even supposed to hear it, especially because it felt like they were still on shaky ground after their conversation earlier.

“What?” He asked, briefly wondering if he just imagined it.

“Nothing. Nothing. Let’s go.” Lance said and jumped over the edge of the cliff. 

Between their rigging and jet packs, even partially effective were better than nothing, they were able to scale down to the catwalk and cut their way inside without much effort. 

“At least the Galra have an appreciation for air conditioning.” Hunk said relieved as they all leapt into the catwalk which was significantly cooler than outside the compound. 

“Here’s to small miracles.” Lance responded while Keith frowned as the communications device in his ear buzzed and crackled with static. Whatever insulation the compound used to keep the heat out must interfere with getting a signal out as well. Unless they could break into the Galran computers they were cut off from the surface. He sighed and looked at their surroundings. 

The hallway was long and dark but at the end there was a light, the narrow catwalk giving away to the larger sections of the compound. 

“Let’s go, we don’t know how many scientists or guards are here.” Keith said and Lance nodded. They walked side by side, ahead of the others, not fighting for dominance of the mission but working together. 

It wasn’t until they left the catwalk and entered the brighter main compound that they ran across any guards. There were four sentries in front of a set of imposing metal doors. 

There were no words when the fighting began, Keith using his Marmora blade to block against their blasters and cut the robots down. He already took down one sentry when he caught sight of Lance’s sword. 

“What is that!” Keith asked, voice a lot higher pitched than he anticipated. 

“It’s an Altean broadsword.” Lance said proudly, cutting down his second sentry while Keith was busy gawking. Allura took care of the last sentry while Pidge, Matt and Hunk rushed past the metal doors into what looked like a security room with a lot of different sized monitors. They started typing on the computers, using a backdoor Lotor showed them to bypass the genetic sensors. 

Keith however was momentarily stunned at the sight of Lance _stroking_ his sword lovingly. His brain stuttered to a halt, his mouth opening and closing like a fish.

“You hold it stupidly!” Keith finally burst out, his brain lashing out as it were under attack and trying desperately to defend itself. 

Lance’s jaw dropped “Yeah well you’re just jealous that I was able bring the sword out of the bayard!” He said and stormed into the computer room after the other Paladins, muttering to himself with words that sounded suspiciously like ‘mullet suffocating his brain’ and ‘why him?’

Keith groaned in frustration and could almost hear his mother’s exasperated sigh. He trailed after Lance and arrived just as Hunk successfully pulled up the schematics of the compound. 

“Boom.” Hunk said and Pidge sulked, if he had to guess he’d bet they raced on who could get the map up first. 

“What does it say?” Keith asked, staring at the Galran script uncomprehendingly 

“Why did we leave the Galra on the surface again?” Lance groaned 

“It says that we’re in the enviornmental control room.” Matt said, holding his chin as he read the map.

“Since when do you speak Galran?” Pidge asked her brother

“It’s something I’ve been working on.” Matt said a bit embarrassed “Seemed like a useful thing to know.” Matt’s finger trailed over the different hallways. “Here Biological research section. That sounds like where they’d do genetic and cloning experiments.”

“Let’s go.” Keith nodded and ran out of the room. 

“Keith, slow down!” Lance ran after him and he could hear the footsteps of the others following as well. 

“Lance is right, we should have a plan!” Allura called after him.

“I have a plan.” Keith said over his shoulder “Stab any sentries in my way and find Shiro.”

“Does anyone else wonder why we’ve only seen robotic sentries so far and not any Galran scientists?” Pidge asked but Keith was too focused on the mission at hand to consider her words. He was so close to finding Shiro, so close to putting things right. 

“Keith stop!” Lance grabbed his arm. Keith wasn’t sure whether it was the sudden contact or the force in Lance’s voice that finally brought him to a halt. 

“What?” He asked sharply and winced. All of this yelling wasn’t going to do the team any good or his relationship- _friendship_ with Lance.

“Look around. You know this isn’t right.” Lance said softly and Keith scoffed but glanced around. The compound really did seem empty and as one of the most advanced technology bases in the Empire it didn’t seem right that there were no scientists. 

He opened his mouth to speak but before he did he heard a loud, ominous creaking. It sent a shudder throughout the compound, the noise obviously mechanical. He looked around again but didn’t immediately see the source.

“If this is a trap there’s nothing we can do but force our way through it. We can’t go back.” Keith said, Lance let out an aggravated sigh but let go of his arm. Keith held his sword at the ready as he advanced again, this time somewhat more slowly. 

“Hey guys!” Pidge suddenly yelled and he nearly tripped when Lance grabbed the back of his suit. He idly wondered if they always touched this much and he was just noticing it more or if this was new. 

“What?” Keith asked sharply, getting frustrated with all of the stops. 

“Look!” Pidge pointed into what looked like a docking bay. Keith walked over and looked through the door’s window.

“Well that explains what happened to the scientists.” He said, seeing a packed shuttle of Galra in lab coats just taking off from the compound. Their ship undocking must have been responsible for the metal creaking they heard.

“Should we try and stop them?” Hunk asked

“It looks like it’s just Galra in there, no Shiro. And in that small of a ship they’ll probably be captured the minute they leave the atmosphere. They aren’t our problem.” Keith shook his head but dread filled his stomach. If Shiro was still alive why wouldn’t take him along as a prisoner...

“Once we get into the bio lab Allura can you use the systems here to try and get a communication through to the rebels, the coalition or at least to Krolia on the crater. See if someone can grab that ship, one of the scientists might know something about the cloning process. They can help us with breaking the clone’s link to the Witch.” Lance said and Allura nodded.

Keith tried to make himself care as much as Lance did about saving the clone but it was hard for him to see that thing as anything more than a puppet that had been responsible for hurting Lance. But he didn’t say anything, if it was important to Lance he wasn’t going to stop him. After all he’d apparently hurt Lance too, if he held so much animosity for the clone it was easy to imagine how he felt about himself at the moment. 

They began to move again, finding another small group of robotic sentries at the door to the biological research lab. Once again they were no match for the Paladins and Keith was proud to say he was only somewhat distracted by Lance wielding the impressive sized sword.

At least until Lance looked at him and swung his sword in a cocky circle after impaling the last sentry “How was that for handling a sword?” He asked. 

Keith’s tongue suddenly felt inexplicably dry in his mouth. He tried to say something nice, suave even, he really did try but his brain wasn’t listening to his heart. “Sloppy.” 

Lance let out a aghast noise and stomped into the bio lab.

The others already went inside, Allura was working on getting a communication out while Hunk, Pidge and Matt went over the tech in the room. There were new robotic prosthetics, advanced weapons and other machines Keith couldn’t even begin to place. Hunk looked intrigued and Pidge looked downright giddy at some of the more complicated pieces. Matt however had paused in his handling of a strange looking geodesic sphere. 

“Is everything alright?” Keith asked him “Is that machine dangerous?”

“No, well it’s probably dangerous but that’s not the problem...it’s just...do you hear that?” Matt asked 

“Hear what?” Keith frowned

“It’s like...a tapping...no, a clanging, more vigorous than tapping but far away.” Matt said, after months in a listening post he must be used to hearing the undertones of the world, the things most people tuned out. 

Keith closed his eyes and tried to find what Matt was hearing. He thought for a second that he had found it, the noise barely reaching his ears. He tried to listen for it again, to make sure-

“Hey guys!” Lance’s voice broke through, thoroughly interrupted Keith’s thoughts enough to make him growl audibly.

“What!” He barked and then mentally swore at his tone. _Be nice Keith, why is it so hard!_ He scolded himself angrily.

“Well excuse me. I just thought you’d be interested to know that those Galra rigged this place to blow!” Lance said, standing beside a computer monitor on the far side of the room, playing a message on a loop with a timer counting down in the corner.

Allura walked over to watch the message beside Lance “Haggar still had influence over the scientists on this base. When she failed to stop our descent she ordered the scientists to evacuate and set explosive charges to incinerate us. This says we have less than ten dobashes to get out of here!” Allura said, voice rising as she relayed the message.

“Now we know why those Galra were in such a hurry to leave. Did you get a message out?” Keith asked Allura.

“I think so, their systems are different here, to compensate for the heavy insulation. Hopefully someone will receive it.” Allura nodded 

“Okay.” Keith nodded “Lance. I want you to take everyone back up to the lions. Take my mother and the clone in your lion and leave the shuttle. I’ll look for Shiro and leave in that when I find him.”

“What? No. Not happening.” Lance came over to stand in front of him, he seemed to be getting into a habit of putting himself close to Keith when disagreeing with him.

“We don’t have time to argue about this.” Keith said through gritted teeth

“You’re right we don’t so stop being stupid. You’re not staying down here alone while this place is counting down. When you find Shiro who knows what a mess he’ll be. You might need help carrying him, especially if you want to both get out of here before this whole place goes kaboom!” Lance said, making a big exploding gesture with his arms.

Keith was shocked by the sudden, almost overwhelming urge to kiss him. Lance didn’t say _if_ they found Shiro, he said _when_. Even though so far they had no proof he was even there, Lance hadn’t given up and that more than anything else made Keith’s heart start to pound. He didn’t get the chance to act on the urge because Matt spoke up next.

“I’m not going either, we’re here for a reason and we haven’t succeeded in our mission yet. Now that the Witch knows her clone's identity is compromised there's no need to keep Shiro alive anymore. The Galran scientists probably left him locked up knowing that he was doomed when the compound exploded.” He said and Keith knew arguing with Matt would be pointless, not with how he felt about Shiro. 

Keith swallowed and nodded “Alright, fine. Lance, Matt, come with me, the rest of you go.”

“We can’t just leave you.” Allura objected

“No. You have to go.” Lance told Allura “The coalition needs you more than anyone. Hunk, Pidge, grab whatever tech you can and get back to the lions. If we’re not back in time make sure Krolia takes off, don’t let her try and come back for us, and tow the Black and Red Lions out with you.” Lance said and Keith’s heart stuttered even more when Lance thought of his mother. 

“Matt-“ Pidge started, her objection to leaving her brother obvious on her face.

“Go Pidge. We’ll be right behind you.” Matt promised and Keith pretended it sounded more sure than it did. 

“We only have seven dobashes left. We have to go now.” Keith said and Matt gave Pidge a tight hug before letting her go grab some tech and head out the door with Allura, Hunk following after clapping Lance on the shoulder and giving him a watery eyed nod. 

“Okay. We don’t have long to find Shiro and get him out.” Keith said, turning to Lance and Matt. 

“All these conduits have to be powering something big.” Matt pointed to the metal tubes along the wall.

“Something like a cloning machine?” Lance asked even though Keith suspected he had no idea what a cloning machine would look like let alone what powered one.

“Yeah.” Matt nodded

“It sounds like as good a place as any to start.” Keith decided and followed the metal conduits through the bio lab, across a couple storerooms and towards what felt like the bowels of the compound.

“That noise I heard earlier. It’s getting louder.” Matt said to him as they ran into a large antechamber with many doors but unlike the doors they had come across so far these looked thicker and much more imposing with locks as big as Keith’s fist keeping them shut. 

Keith could finally hear the noise as well, it was a combination of scraping and loud clangs as if something metallic was being hit and dragged against the floor. 

“Someone’s in there.” Keith said and looked back to Lance who nodded. Once more no words were needed as they both reared back with their swords and brought them down hard on the lock to the door. Their combined power was enough to break the lock.

Keith tore it off the door but even unlocked it took the three of them to pull the weight of the door open. As soon as there was enough room to squeeze through Keith pushed himself into the room. 

It was dim except for the spotlight that shone over a standing chamber in the corner that somewhat resembled an Altean healing pod except much more ominous with wires, coils and copper like spikes. The light from that corner was just enough to illuminate the source of the noise. It was a metal table, hard an unforgiving as a surface. On top of it was strapped a person, struggling against his binds, dragging the table across the floor and banging it into the wall as he fought to be free.

Keith felt his knees go weak. “Shiro.” He breathed, only realizing in that moment how many doubts had plagued him despite his best attempts to ignore them.

On the table was Shiro, staring at him in a stunned awe as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. His hair was ragged but relatively short as if his captors had tried to keep it trimmed for whatever reason but didn’t know how to shape human hair. That was easily overlooked, what was harder to miss was the fact that he was missing an arm, his robotic one completely removed.

“Keith?” Shiro breathed, voice breathless from struggling against his binds or shock, probably both. “Are you really here?” 

“Yeah-Yeah I’m here and you’re here-“

“And we’ve got four dobashes left!” Lance interrupted, pushing into the room with Matt not far behind.

Matt looked just as shell shocked as Keith felt, standing near the door and just staring at Shiro silently while Lance, seemingly the only useful one at that moment, rushed over and used his sword to cut off Shiro’s binds.

“Thanks for coming to get me.” Shiro said, Keith finally feeling himself move again as he ran over to help Lance push Shiro into a sitting position.

“I just wish we had gotten here sooner.” Keith said but it fell on deaf ears.

When Shiro sat up he froze, “Matt?” He asked, confused, shocked and somewhat hopeful.

Keith suddenly realized that Shiro wouldn’t know that they had found Matt, the clone already impersonating him when Pidge brought her brother back. 

“Yeah it's me. Hi.” Matt breathed.

Shiro pushed himself to his feet, stumbling a little bit but holding on to the table for support until he gathered himself together enough to take a step forward, then another. Keith saw the rawness in his eyes and suddenly felt like he and Lance were intruding on something private. 

Whereas the clone had interpreted Shiro’s memories enough to know that a hug was warranted during their reunion, the real Shiro, who actually understood the emotion behind those memories was even more moved. It was an action so smoothly executed that Keith was sure Shiro had practiced it a thousand times before in his imagination. 

He slid his hand behind Matt’s head and pulled him into a kiss. 

Keith couldn’t help but stare slack jawed at the scene in front of him. The kiss like something he only ever saw at the end of a movie. It was full of passion and desperation but at the same time showcased the very type of raw vulnerability that Keith spent so much energy running away from. And yet there Shiro was, giving so much of himself away freely and gladly, Matt reciprocating with his own heart as he held on to Shiro’s shoulders and stood on his tip toes to kiss back. It was like Keith was seeing for the first time what love could be, not a fairy tale or a curse but two damaged people who fit together in just the right way that they filled up each other’s chips and cracks, helping to make each other whole again.

Compounding his surprise he realized how familiar that feeling was to him, to have someone that built him up and made him feel stronger, better, more whole…

Keith was jolted out of his thoughts by Lance shaking him with excited glee at this turn of events, as if forgetting for a moment that he was agitated with Keith about the earlier sword comments. Keith couldn’t help but laugh at Lance’s joy, the moment something pure during all the chaos and pain of this war.

But as much as he hated to interrupt he had no choice. “Guys. The place is rigged to explode.” He reminded loud enough to cause Shiro and Matt to break apart, both flushed and breathless. “Shiro, can you run?” Keith asked

“I think I’m going to have to.” Shiro said and Matt hooked an arm around him, ears still blushing red as he helped Shiro run towards the exit. 

Keith and Lance followed behind them but as they moved he shared a worried look with Lance. Shiro was obviously more injured than just the missing arm, his movements slower than they used to be. At this rate they might make it out of the compound in time but he didn’t know how they’d scale back up to the lions and get his mother’s shuttle to a safe distance before the compound exploded. 

Keith wondered if he should say something to Lance. If this was their last moments he didn’t want to go leaving so much unsaid. This felt drastically different than when he was going to ram his ship at Naxzela. Then he had been at peace with the idea of his own death. This time however he was ready to fight against it with everything he had. Keith was already ready to fight for the sake of the Galaxy, his growing feelings for Lance made him finally ready to fight for himself too.

The four of them climbed out the way they came. Standing on top of the catwalk Keith could see the sky above and the bubbling lava below, the heat hitting him even harder than last time. They still had to scale back to the top of the crater but Keith knew it was only a matter of ticks now before the explosions went off. They were so close, it wasn’t fair they’d never make it.

Matt desperately started to hook Shiro up to the climbing gear that the other Paladins left for them, Shiro watching him with a warm but sad smile, not taking his eyes off of Matt. They all knew the four dobashes they had prior to Matt and Shiro’s kiss was coming quickly to an end and it was almost like Shiro wanted to make sure Matt was the last thing he saw. 

With that in mind Keith spun around to face Lance. “I’m sorry.” He said, the words tumbling out of his mouth. “I’m sorry I always leave, I did it for myself and never thought about what it must feel like for the people I’m leaving behind. I’m not used to having to think about anyone but myself, I’m not like you. You think about everyone even to the point of putting yourself last and that’s amazing but frustrating because you deserve so much more. And you make me want to be that thing that’s more. That didn’t make any sense did it? I’ve never done this before I don’t know what to say-“

“Keith” Lance tried to interject, voice a little squeaky.

“No I need-I need to get this out before the entire compound explodes. Lance I don’t want to die without telling you that I think I love you!”

“ _Keith!_ ” This time it was Shiro who called his name, grinning at what he just overheard but also somewhat baffled as if he wondered exactly how much he had missed. 

Keith followed Shiro’s, remaining, hand as it pointed into the sky, urging him to look up. 

Hovering just above their heads was the Yellow Lion, mouth open and waiting for them to board. It was just in time too, as luck would have it the explosion began at the opposite side of the compound and gave them just enough time to help Shiro in first before the rest of them scrambled inside the Lion.

“Hold on to something!” Hunk yelled as the mouth closed just in time for the shockwave to rock them as debris from the laboratory flew everywhere.

The armaments on the Yellow Lion really were a piece of art. While Keith would always prefer the speed of Red or the imposing power of the Black Lion he could see why Hunk felt so secure in Yellow. Even so it was a rough ride as they rode the outer edge of the blast back into the atmosphere and back into space. 

Space was eerily peaceful, the fighting all but over as they made it back into the stars. It took a moment to realize the Lion was no longer shaking with the stress of their ascent and even longer to come to terms with the fact that they made it out alive, with Shiro. 

“My sister and the others. Did they make it out? What happened?” Matt was the first to break the silence.

“Yeah. We all made it out. The coalition had regained the system by the time we made it back up, we towed the Red and Black Lions like you said. Everyone is back on Lotor’s giant battleship.”

“Who’s Lotor?” Shiro asked 

“You really don’t want to know.” Keith groaned, realizing how much they would have to catch Shiro up on.

“What you don’t want to know is that when you guys cleared the building your comms automatically reconnected and everyone heard what you said to Lance.” Hunk said quickly and Keith immediately forgot how to breathe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Keith. He's at that awkward stage in between wanting to express himself through pig tail pulling and mature affection.
> 
> Well there it is! I know, I know, there's a lot of corny spots but come on, our Paladins need a bit of corniness, they deserve the simple peace of it. 
> 
> We're getting towards the end now but don't worry, there's still several chapters left where hopefully I tie up the lingering questions. What do they do with the clone? Will Shiro get a new arm? How is he? and maybe most importantly What is Keith going to do about Lance??? (And what is Lance going to do about him?)


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are. This chapter is a triumph for the sole reason I had the strangest autocorrects while writing. The word Milk kept on oddly being changed to Kill, I'm Not was changed to immunoglobulin and Shiro wanted to be changed to Sheep. Oddly enough one of the few words that didn't fight me was the name Kaltenecker. So here we are despite the Great War of the Autocorrections.
> 
> Just like with Matt I feel like I had issues capturing Shiro's character. He's tough to write because I feel like much of his character is his voice and tones that I can only describe so much without it getting redundant. I went back and watched some of the early episodes to try and get a better feel for him so you might notice a few extra references to those earlier scenes. And well here it is!

Lance was not hiding. Nope, that was definitely not what was happening. Just because Lance spent the entirety of the ride on Lotor’s ship polishing up the Red Lion or because as soon as they returned to the Castle of Lions Lance ran off to work in Kaltenecker’s stable. That didn’t mean he was avoiding anyone, especially not Keith. Nope, definitely not avoiding Keith who just admitted he loved him in a terrifyingly public way. 

Oh my god he was definitely avoiding Keith because he admitted he loved him and everyone knew. 

Lance had no idea how to react. On the one hand he was ecstatic, actually ecstatic didn’t even begin to cover it. Keith was a pain in the neck but he was the sort of pain Lance never wished to be without again. He could see how great they could be together, what it would be like to lay beside Keith, make dumb jokes and see him roll his eyes instead of smile but for Keith the fond gestures were one in the same. He could see them training together, fighting together, Keith harassing him about playing his video game too often in lieu of saying he wanted attention and Lance falling asleep bored against Keith’s legs while he read. They were so similar but at the same time just different enough and their natural rivalry, well that would keep things fun.

Yeah, he could practically taste how good things could be...if only Keith would be happy with the same thing. 

Lance didn’t think Keith had been insincere but also knew that if they hadn’t been about to die Keith would never have admitted to his feelings. Lance wasn’t an idiot, he saw how Keith’s brain, adorably, short circuited when he saw Lance’s new sword, he was also acutely aware of how Keith’s gaze slid towards him during Shiro and Matt’s epic kiss. Lance now knew for certain that Keith felt something for him but he also saw how panicked Keith looked as they docked the Yellow Lion on Lotor’s base. 

So okay fine, maybe Lance was avoiding Keith but that was only because he couldn’t bare to _watch_ Keith leave again. They might have been able to manage it if the confession had stayed just between them but with the added stress of _everybody_ hearing it, well, Lance didn’t expect to see Keith again for a long time, not when the emotional stakes were this high.

However, apparently his hiding place with Kaltenecker wasn’t as ingenious as he thought. If someone were to find him he expected it to be Hunk with a tray of sympathy snacks or Pidge wanting to take his mind off of things with a video game. One of the last people he expected to walk through the doors was Shiro. The real Shiro, he could tell because of the bad haircut and the glaringly empty sleeve in the new clothes he was given to wear.

“Mind if I join you?” Shiro asked, coming over to sit beside him while he milked Kaltenecker 

“Uh course not.” Lance said surprised “Shouldn’t you be resting though? Or in the infirmary? Or debriefing?”

“Probably.” Shiro nodded “But I wanted to thank you. From what I hear it’s because of you that I was rescued.” 

“It was mostly Keith and his mother. They uh told you about her right?” Lance asked 

“Yeah.” Shiro chuckled fondly, Lance was almost sorry he missed out on that interaction. “Seems like a lot has changed. Keith was adamant you guys never would have succeeded in rescuing me without you. I guess the one thing that hasn’t changed is you two having to save my butt.”

“What?” Lance asked confused

“When I crash landed back on Earth. You and Keith were the first ones to help drag me out.” Shiro reminded, thankfully not mentioning the fact that he and Keith had also been bickering the entire time.

“Oh yeah.” Lance laughed “Man that feels like ages ago.”

“Tell me about it.” Shiro nodded and Lance suddenly felt bad. As tough as this war had been on him Shiro spent most of it as a prisoner, who knows what he went through during all that time.

“Keith was wrong. It’s because of him you were saved, I’ve been missing the signs that you...well weren’t you, for a long time.” Lance shook his head with a sigh, finishing up the milking and moving the bucket aside before turning away from Shiro ashamed.

“Lance.” Shiro said sternly “You came through when it counted like you always do. And with everyone catching me up on what I’ve missed it’s obvious that more than anyone you’ve stepped up. Everyone talks about how when they needed something you were there, whether it was piloting the Red Lion, your skills as a sharpshooter and swordsman or offering counsel as Voltron’s right arm. You have been everything to everyone and because of that you are one of the strongest people on this team but I can’t also help but wonder whether you’re being pulled in so many directions that you’re getting torn apart.” 

Lance swallowed hard “I’m fine Shiro. You shouldn’t be worrying about me.” He said, feeling ridiculous that here Shiro was, just returned from months of imprisonment and worrying about his emotional well being. His feelings couldn’t compare to what Shiro had gone through. 

“Keith’s worried you know.” Shiro’s abrupt change in tactic startled Lance into looking back at him.

“He is?”

“Mhm” Shiro hummed “You know how he is. He didn’t say anything but-“

“You can just tell.” Lance sighed with a nod, reading Keith wasn’t especially hard if you actually put in the effort. “I’m sure once he leaves and is back on Blade of Marmora missions he’ll be fine.”

“Lance. Keith isn’t leaving.” Shiro informed him

“What do you mean?” Lance asked, breath hitching in a way that would be embarrassing if he was talking to anyone other than Shiro who never judged anyone for their feelings. “Like he isn’t leaving right away or...”

“No. He’s not leaving at all. The Clone is being kept asleep for now which leaves the team in need of a Black Paladin.”

“What about you!”

“I...I think I’m of better use at the castle. Matt, Pidge and Hunk are working on a way to either get me my old arm prosthetic arm back or build me a new one but who knows how long that could take.”

“I’m sure the Black Lion could adapt to you only having one arm.” Lance objected,

“Probably but…that’s not my place anymore and I’m okay with that. With Allura as a Paladin now Coran needs someone up here to help coordinate with the coalition.”

“But what...what about Keith’s mom? I didn’t think Keith would want to be separated from her so soon.” Lance asked, trying to wrap his head around the whole thing.

“Krolia will be joining me, working on mission coordination between the Blade of Marmora and the rest of us. As we all come together more and more Allura and Lotor think the next move would be to build a sort of council so different freed planets, Blade members and Rebels have specific people to contact and be their voice.”

“Oh and let me guess Matt is going to be the representative for the Rebels?” Lance wiggled his eyebrows a bit and Shiro sputtered.

“That’s not important right now.” He said but the rise in his voice told Lance he hit the nail right on the head. “The point is that Keith is taking over as the Black Paladin again. You can’t ignore him Lance.” Shiro said, voice stern and authoritative but also full of kindness. This was the Shiro he had missed, one always looking out not only for the stability and strength of the team but also their individual well-being. Just like when Pidge struggled with the desire to search for her family versus the responsibility of being a Paladin Shiro didn’t make her feel small or selfish for her own feelings, just encouraged her to find a resolution in her own way, just like Shiro was pressing him to do now.

“I thought I was doing him favor.” Lance shrugged with a dry laugh “Make it easier for him to go in peace without demanding anything because of his...because of what he said when he thought we were dying...” 

“Look, Lance.” Shiro sighed “I know Keith and he might have spoken his mind because he thought you were going to die but it would have taken him some time and serious consideration to realize his feelings at all. I’m sure that he meant what he said.”

“Yeah. Yeah. I know. Keith can barely deal with the feelings he has, I don’t think he’s capable of making some up.” He snorted

“Then what is it? Do you not feel the same way?” Shiro asked but Lance could tell underneath the warmth and understanding that the question was a non sequitur. Shiro already knew the answer. 

“Of course I do. It’s Keith, he’s so so full of fire and he makes ignite too. He pushes me to be my best even if I’m doubting myself. I don’t have to question what he’s thinking because it’s written right on his face, he’s brave and honest and that mullet god I just want to grab it and-“

“Okay. I think I get the picture.” Shiro held up his hand, looking slightly alarmed, rushing to get them back on track. “Then what’s the problem if you both have feelings each other and Keith is staying around?”

“We aren’t just two regular guys back on Earth Shiro. We are Paladins of Voltron, fighting in a war to protect the _Galaxy_. What happens when we argue? And trust me, no amount of feelings will stop us from fighting, it’s like foreplay-“

“Lance” Shiro warned, his somewhat horrified face reminding Lance of when Coran presented him with the foul smelling ‘Authentic Paladin Lunch.’

“What happens when we argue? What if it affects our ability to be a team and form Voltron? And Keith is so...unsure about feelings and things. I don’t want to push him too fast but honestly I think he might implode if I so much as try to hold his hand. In my family love is shown with big gestures, serenades, picnics on the beach, my brother Marco once hired a sky writer for his girlfriend’s birthday. They had been dating for three weeks.”

“Wow”

“Right? I didn’t grow up around subtle people and we all know that I’m not exactly understated either. Even if I try to hang back what if I’m too much for Keith who as far as I know doesn’t really have any experience or positive influences with relationships.”

“Well. Maybe Keith needs a bit of a push.” Shiro said slowly. “Obviously there are boundaries, but there’s a difference between being unsure but willing to explore versus unsure and uncomfortable. All new experiences can be a bit frightening, especially when you feel like you’re putting your heart on the line. I think a lot of your concerns can be put to rest by talking with Keith. The two of you can work out clear boundaries that you’re both comfortable with.”

“You make it sound so easy. You always make your relationship with Keith sound so easy.” Lance groaned, trying to keep the jealousy out of his voice. He knew now there was no romance between Shiro and Keith but he still envied the bond they had, how well Shiro understood the frankly absurd facets of Keith’s mind.

“Here’s my secret.” Shiro said as if reading Lance’s thoughts “Keith usually mirrors how you react to him, if you come at him with anger he’ll react with anger, if you come at him with understanding then he’ll in turn try to understand you. Obviously he’s a human not a robot so that rule doesn’t work one hundred percent of the time but it’s a good place to start. And hey, Keith just publically confessed his love to you, maybe he deserves a serenade in response.” 

Lance smirked but it was stifled by what else was on his mind. He got up from his stool and quietly grabbed the broom to sweep out Kaltenecker’s pen. Shiro didn’t move, knowing that Lance wasn’t done, he just needed a moment to think things over.

“And what if I’m not good enough?” Lance asked finally, wincing at how stupid that sounded, one second he was worried about being too much and the next concerned that he wasn't enough, but when he looked over at Shiro there was nothing that resembled mocking on his face, just something sad.

“Now that I’m not worried about all.” Shiro said with such a deep certainty that it made Lance smile a bit. Shiro stood up and walked over, putting his hand on Lance’s shoulder. “I know that me saying this won’t be a magical fix but you need to stop doubting yourself because you’re the only one that does. Everyone else thinks you have greatness in you, especially Keith. He’s faced all the teasing about his confession head on and he hasn’t taken a word of it back.”

“Oh.” Lance looked at Shiro with wide eyes. He suddenly realized that if Keith was in fact hanging around that meant that Lance was inadvertently letting him deal with the aftermath of his confession alone. “I guess...I guess I should go talk to him.”

“I think that would be a good place to start.” Shiro nodded “And thank you again Lance, for coming to get me.” he said, offering Lance his hand to shake.

Lance opened his mouth to object again, to say that he really didn’t do much but then he closed it and nodded “Anytime.” He said, leaning the broom back up against the pen’s wall and shaking Shiro's hand with a firm grip before walking out of the room with him.

Matt was leaning on the wall in the hallway outside, no doubt waiting for Shiro.

“Heeeey. Hot date you two?” Lance couldn’t help but tease.

“Weren’t you going to see Keith?” Shiro asked, cocking an eyebrow and Lance laughed, running down the hall, he pretended not to hear Matt and Shiro’s conversation as he left.

“So the talk went well?” Matt asked

“I told him to serenade Keith.” Shiro responded casually.

“You did not!” Matt gasped so horrified that Lance was almost insulted. He was a fantastic singer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise I'm not stringing you along just for the hell of it, we will get to Keith and Lance's confrontation soon. Soonish at least. First I wanted Lance to have a conversation that mirrored Keith's talk with Krolia earlier. And who better than Shiro to have that conversation with? After all I don't think Lance's confidence would just go up and stay up, it'd be more of a roller coaster type of thing.
> 
> And since this story is basically just my random headcannons gone wild I included a way that I think Keith coming back to the team makes sense. The clone is out of the way, they rescue the real Shiro, lets stop asking Shiro who clearly has some PTSD to fight. That being said I don't think Shiro would want to just give up and go home so lets put those natural born leadership skills to good use. If the endgame is for the universe not to be at war there has to be some people coordinating the peace and with Allura as a Paladin now I think Coran needs some help back at home base. 
> 
> And as a side note I differentiate between coalition members as being the people of freed planets who were subjugated but not necessarily fighting the Galra before becoming free and rebels as the groups who have specifically dedicated their life to fighting and undermining the Galra. And then there's the Blade of Marmora who're in their own special category. It makes sense to me at least.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ha, well here it is! This chapter took me longer than most of the others to write because well it's important and I had trouble finding the right tone. So much of this story has been leading up to this point and I didn't want it to be a let down for all you awesome folks who have stuck with it these past few weeks. Most of this story has come easily to me because I love this fandom and these ships but it's hard to stay in character when you're taking them down a path they haven't emotionally been down before, you sort of have to fill in the blanks. And well, when I hit a roadblock I am a terrible procrastinator, I tell myself that inspiration will strike if I'm patient but after three days I realized that I'm going to sit down and just drag inspiration out of its dark cave by the ankles.

_“That’s the one.”_  
“The one that confessed?”  
“Yeah.”  
“Wow, I wonder what happened.”  
“I bet he got rejected.” 

_“I wish someone would confess to me like that! It was so romantic!”_

_“He was always the scowling Paladin. No wonder he has to apologize in the same sentence he confesses his love.”_

_“He must be so embarrassed. Stop laughing at him!”_

_“I hear he’s part Galra.”_  
“He looks too short to be a Galra.”  
“Seems angry enough though.” 

_“Looks like he scared the Red Paladin off.”_

_._

_“How could you almost die again! Do you have a death wish? I talked to your friend Shiro and he’s very concerned too-“_  
“Oh my god Mom you talked to Shiro?”  
“Yes and he thinks you and Lance will be great together too.”  
“Mom!...He does?” 

_._

Keith had never been so happy for a mission to end. 

He spent the last several hours on Lotor’s ship debriefing and discussing how the rest of the fleet managed to free the system and the consequences of that victory moving forward. Once they arrived back at the Castle of Lions the discussion moved to his future as the Black Paladin. At first he fought Shiro’s decision to retire, he deserved to be the Black Paladin and shouldn’t loose that honor just because he had been captured. It was only when Allura gently pointed out that Shiro also deserved a break from the fighting that Keith withdrew his complaints. When he accepted the reasoning behind Shiro’s decision to retire his own choice to stay became much easier than he ever anticipated.

Sure, he still felt the nervous pounding in his chest that made him want to get up and run, especially with all of the looks and whispers that surrounded him wherever he went. The most guarded side of himself, his feelings, seemed to be all anyone was talking about and he hated the attention his inadvertently public confession had brought on to him. And with Lance’s painfully obvious absence stretching out longer and longer he felt like lead weights were filling his stomach. But even with the fear of rejection and the discomfort of all the new attention, he planted his feet down and made a promise to stay. He knew that the first step to showing Lance he was sincere was to not run away. 

He met aliens, traveled through interstellar space, piloted a giant robotic super weapon, faced countless attacks by cyborgs and monsters and looked death in the eye on several occasions. Even taking all of that into consideration he didn’t think he had ever been so scared in his life. And as much as he hated being helpless he knew he couldn’t do anything but wait for Lance to reappear and respond to his confession. He was at the mercy of that response, whether came in the form of rejection, reciprocation or a refusal to acknowledge it ever happened.

When all of the conversations and planning were finally over he was happy to get back to his room. The Castle of Lions felt more like home than any place he’d stayed since his dad died. When he got to his room he took off his Blade suit for what very well might be the last time and put on his casual Earth clothes, sans jacket. He couldn’t even be bothered to shower, just too bone tired to take another step. He flopped down on his bed and buried his face in his pillow. 

As he tried to fall asleep his mind wandered down dangerous paths, the certainty Lance was disgusted with his feelings, the worries that he’d make a terrible leader of Voltron, the concern about Shiro’s recovery and the war effort in general. Even with all those difficult thoughts swirling around in his head he was almost asleep when he heard a knock on his door. At first he tried to ignore it but then it came again, followed by a hesitant voice.

“Keith you in there?” Lance asked and just like that Keith was wide awake, his heart leaping into his throat. 

“I Uh-Yeah.” Keith scrambled out of bed and slammed his hand into the door’s control panel so hard that Lance must have heard because he looked at the wall concerned when he walked in, the door sliding shut again behind him. 

“Sorry man were you sleeping?” Lance asked when he noticed the low lights and rumpled sheets. 

“No-no, just laying down. Thinking about things.” Keith nodded, quickly turning the lights up so he could actually see Lance.

“What sort of things?” Lance asked, hands in his pockets, looking as uncomfortable as Keith felt. He felt his heart fall out of his throat and into the pit of his stomach, surely if Lance was here to reciprocate his feelings he would look more excited and less nervous. 

“You know, rescuing Shiro, the war...I don’t know if you heard but I’m going to take over the Black Lion again...I’m going to stay.” Keith said slowly, hoping Lance would read between the lines and figure out _why_ he was staying.

“Yeah, Yeah, I heard...” Lance nodded “Are you sure that’s what you want to do?”

“What you don’t think I’d make a good pilot anymore?” Keith tried to tease him but Lance didn’t seem to pick up on that, it was unlike him to miss such obvious provocation, he must really be nervous which in turn only made Keith's anxiety flare up even more.

“What? That’s not what I said!” Lance defended “I just wanted to make sure you weren’t leaving the Blade just because of what I said!”

Keith’s humor melted away and he swallowed his discomfort down, knowing that if he had any chance left with Lance he had to be honest. “I joined the Blade because at the time I thought it was where I’d be the most useful and I hoped I’d be able to find out more about my past, my Galran side. And I found my mother which was more than I ever expected. Now I’m coming back because it’s where I’m needed and I...I want to find out more about my future. Maybe even a future with you...” Keith winced at how painfully corny it sounded, even to his ears. 

Lance’s jaw fell open and for once he was speechless. If Keith's hadn't been so terrified of Lance's response he’d probably have made fun of him, instead he felt his stomach doing flip flops. He had never been so aware of all of his internal organs before. 

When Lance didn’t say anything Keith added a bit defensively. “I don’t know why you’re surprised. I did just tell you that I love you, did you not believe me?” 

“I believed you but I didn’t think it was enough for you to stay around...not after everyone heard you confess. I was sure you’d leave again.” 

“Is that why you...vanished?” Keith asked slowly and Lance nodded. 

“I didn’t want to watch you go. I’m uh...sorry I ended up leaving you to deal with the aftermath of your confession alone.” Lance rubbed the back of his neck with a guilty look on his face. As much as he wanted to be angry and hurt that Lance had all but run away in a panic in the face of his confession Keith couldn't bring himself to muster up the emotion. After all, he hadn't done much to suggest his reaction would be any different than what Lance assumed. He couldn't blame him, all he could do is move forward and show he was willing to do better. 

“It’s alright.” Keith shrugged “I said it, it’s my fault.”

Lance shook his head “Nah, it was nobody’s fault…” He said and silence fell between them. Keith considered what to say next, his mind stumbling over his words as he tried to figure out a way to decipher Lance’s feelings without being too obvious. He didn't feel any closer to a resolution than he did before Lance entered the room and was getting impatient. But before he came up with a plan of attack something in Lance seemed to burst and the other boy suddenly let out a very frustrated and very loud scream.

“What the hell!” Keith jumped, startled at the sudden explosion. 

“I don’t like this!” Lance announced, a familiar petulant tone in his voice.

“Like what?” Keith asked confused, part of him wondering if this was the dreaded rejection he had been waiting for.

“I don’t like things being weird between us. You said you love me and guess what, I love you too. What’re you going to do about it?” Lance put his arms out, almost as if he was baiting him into a fight, and it was Keith’s turn to go slack jawed, Lance always did find a way to surprise him. It was a confession that was so rawly them that even beneath the shock from that bold statement Keith felt a familiar competitive fire begin to burn inside him. Lance threw down a challenge and he couldn’t refuse it now could he?

“I’m going to kiss you.” Keith declared, the awkwardness melting away from their conversation and while there was still an undercurrent if nerves it felt more exciting and less toxic.

“Yeah? Give me your best shot.” Lance said and Keith took two wide steps over, grabbed Lance by the cheeks and kissed him. 

It had been a rash action, fueled by desperation and competition and it left Keith completely unprepared for how the rest of the universe seemed to fall away. All he knew in that moment was how unbelievably soft Lance’s skin was. He’d never again make fun of those face masks because _wow_. 

And then Lance kissed him back and everything that fell away suddenly slotted itself back into place with the exception of the space in between them, that had all but disappeared. Whereas at first everything stilled, now it was like his senses had flipped into overdrive. He could almost laugh at the absurdity of it, things he had always dismissed as exaggerations and fairy tale nonsense were coming to life right in front of him, the fireworks behind his eyelids, his heart skipping every other beat and his breath flying straight out of his lungs. As far as first kisses go, it was life changing. 

By the time they finally parted Keith wasn’t sure whether they kissed for a minute or an hour. He was even less sure about when Lance’s hands had come up to grip his sides. All he knew was that the dazed, somewhat bewildered expression on Lance’s face might be the cutest thing he had ever seen. And while he would never admit it he was sure his face had almost the same expression on it. 

“That was-that was a pretty good shot.” Lance swallowed hard 

“Just pretty good? Do you think you can do better?” Keith scoffed but this time Lance saw through his tone and took it for the invitation it was, going in for another kiss. Keith almost sighed in relief that the second kiss was just as explosive as the first. They kissed like they fought, with passion, both refusing to hand over complete control to the other but still relishing in the battle.

The next time they broke apart it was Lance who moved away, leaving Keith chasing after his lips with an annoyed growl.

“Did you just growl at me?” Lance asked, stunned but smiling. 

“No” Keith shook his head quickly

“You did. Oh my god you just growled at me.” He laughed 

“Shut up.” Keith crossed his arms.

Lance, of course, refused to be quiet and instead doubled over in laughter, Keith huffed, wondering why he had to fall in love with this idiot. But one glance at that ridiculous grin and he knew why, all of the reasons and feelings settling comfortably in his chest and his pout cracked, Keith laughing too. 

He wasn’t nervous anymore, not with Lance standing there and laughing with him. If anything he had never felt more at ease. He wasn’t alone anymore, he had the real Shiro back, his mother was in his life, as well as the other Paladins, and then there was Lance, sneaking his way past all of his defenses without him even realizing it.

There were still a lot of challenges ahead. Not all of the rebel Galran factions had been defeated, major chunks of the known Galaxy were still under tyrannical rule. In particular Haggar’s sect was dangerous, they still didn’t fully understand her plans and motivations but he knew she wasn’t going to be pleased they removed her clone from the equation. The coalition was entering a new phase of development where they began to look towards a future post the Galran occupation of the galaxy and work out what they wanted that universe to look like. There was going to be some changes, some arguing, even some upheaval but he felt ready for that. He even felt ready to handle the more personal things. He got the feeling that once both their heart rates settled down Lance would try to be chivalrous and talk about respecting Keith’s boundaries and they'd have to talk about balancing their relationship and the command structure of Voltron. But in that moment Keith didn’t care about any of that. 

He just wanted to laugh with his boyfriend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there it is! Honestly, I'm not as happy with it as I've been with other chapters, like I said above I tried to stay as much in character as possible while still staying true to what a big moment this was for both of them. It's emotional but at the same time I feel like the whole basis of their relationship is rivalry and harassing each other so I wanted to keep that fun element between them. Maybe I'm just being picky because I'm the writer.
> 
> With that this story is sadly almost at its end. There will be an epilogue to tie up those loose ends (the clone, cough cough) and then that's it. It's been so much fun y'all.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this is it, it took me longer than I expected to write, partially because of the holiday and partially because I wanted to make sure I had a good wrap up. 
> 
> So here it is! The final chapter in this story. I'm so sad it's over, it's been a wild ride and ya'll have been great fun. This story has gotten so much more attention than I expected so thank you everyone and please enjoy the epilogue.

Six Weeks Later

Shiro let out an slow, exasperated sigh. If he was tired of listening to them after only the twenty minutes he could only imagine how the other Paladins felt after listening to them the whole ride back to the Castle. 

“I totally had the open shot.” Lance argued 

“Are you blind? I clearly had the better angle!” Keith responded sharply.

“Pfft. As if.” Lance dismissed and Keith let out an intelligible yell of annoyance in response. 

“Do you think they’d stop if I took my arm off and threw it at them?” Shiro asked Matt quietly. He had only been wearing the new prosthetic for a little over a week now but already it felt more natural than the first one he had. Between Pidge, Matt and Hunk they were able to adequately replicate his original robotic arm and even make it more compatible to his human physiology. And thanks to Pidge it now had a built in communications device, at first it only worked if he stuck his thumb and pinky out and held it up to his ear like a phone but after a bit of unabashed begging she adjusted it to work as if the microphone was near his wrist.

“I don’t know, that might make them at least notice there are other people around.” Matt snorted his laughter in that way he hated but Shiro thought was adorable.

Shiro leaned forward and gave him a quick peck, Matt startling a bit because Shiro normally liked to keep their affection behind closed doors but with Lance and Keith arguing so loudly it’s not like anyone was paying attention to them anyways.

“What was that for?” Matt asked with a smile

“I’m just enjoying you.” Shiro shrugged and Matt grinned. 

The tender moment was broken by more yelling from Lance and Keith. 

“We could have formed Voltron sooner but _someone_ was lagging behind.”

“I was not lagging behind! I was taking up the rear so you didn’t get your tail shot off!” Lance objected

Shiro sighed and ran his hands over his face. He swore some days as a Galran prisoner were more peaceful than this. But despite how their arguing may sound Shiro knew first hand that Voltron as a team had never been more successful. Ever since Keith took over with Lance as his right hand sending Voltron into any situation had become an almost guaranteed win. They all were as busy as ever, still dealing with the threats from strongest rogue Galran factions as well as searching for Haggar and rebuilding freed worlds. And he spent a lot of time catching up on all he had missed. 

Among the strangest things he had to get used to was obviously Lotor. He was still wary of the new Emperor but did what he could to judge Lotor on the strength of his recent actions and not on his father’s legacy. He couldn’t imagine what it was like growing up with Zarkon as a father and if he was honest he wasn’t sure whether that should invoke sympathy or fear in him. What he did know was that Allura seemed to not only trust Lotor but genuinely value him and Shiro believed in her. He knew that no matter what her personal feelings may be Allura was more than just a princess with a crush, she was a strong and thoughtful leader with a good head on her shoulders. She wasn’t one to be easily fooled, so if she said Lotor was worth trusting, he believed her. Aside from that, the another big adjustment Shiro was confronted with was Krolia, though that was a lot more entertaining to say the least. 

He liked her, which was good for Keith’s sake and because besides Matt, Coran and the Paladins she was one of the people he worked with the most. They sometimes spent hours coordinating recognizance gathered by coalition planets and the Blade. He had also somehow become her Keith translator because while she had spent some time on Earth Keith’s rural rancher of a father obviously didn’t introduce her to a lot of pop culture things. 

_“Shiro. What is a beanie baby? Should I be worried? Am I a grandmother?”_

_“Shiro. What does Bobs your Uncle mean?”_

And his personal favorite _“Shiro, why does Lance keep on telling Keith he’s thirsty. Is there something wrong with the water machines?”_

After that one Shiro had a conversation with a very embarrassed Lance about not confusing the aliens and keeping private talk in private places, yes, even if it is funny when Keith turns red. Then he went to his room and laughed with Matt for a good hour and a half.

All things considered though, he thought there was a positive outlook. The council was going as well as could be expected with so many different cultures and traditions coming to the table. Some clashed, most distrusted Lotor and the Blades but they had all overcome whatever hurdles they encountered and set up more joint missions, allowing exponentially more planets to be freed and rebuilding to begin. 

“Well you know what-“ Keith responded but wasn’t able to finish before Lance interrupted

“What?” Lance’s response was simple enough but it threw off the whole rhythm of Keith’s delivery, leaving him faltering. 

“Guys, I know you have a thing about publicizing your relationship but please, spare us today.” A remarkably familiar voice entered the conversation.

Out of everything Shiro had to adjust to, living with a clone of himself was probably the most bizarre. 

Lotor succeeded in capturing the escaped Galran scientists from the lab where he had been kept prisoner and they even managed to turn a few to their side. With their help they broke the clone’s link to Haggar. That was almost a month ago and ever since the clone had been adjusting to life as his own person. They even renamed him Kuron after they discovered that it was the name of the cloning project. 

Shiro told himself that if Keith could get on with his long lost mother then he could accept a ‘twin.’ It was just so much easier to consider Kuron a twin rather than a clone because despite a few similar memories they really were very different. Shiro liked to consider himself a relatively patient person, Kuron however, while fun loving and curious was also as short tempered and impatient as a toddler, granted he was technically only a few months old so Shiro supposed he couldn’t really be completely blamed.

“Oh Grumpy Shiro is grumpy again.” Lance mock whispered to Keith. 

“Stop calling me that!” Kuron groaned 

“Yeah, you’re right, he’s reeeally grumpy.” Keith nodded and Lance snickered. If there was one thing worse than those two arguing like foreplay it was when they teamed up to harass someone else. 

Shiro had been supportive of their relationship from the moment he realized how perfect they were for each other, namely halfway in to their first mission together, he just sometimes wished he had considered the potential consequences of putting two such...dynamic personalities together. They could be almost as annoying as Slav sometimes. 

“That’s enough guys, call the other Paladins together, Lotor too. Kuron you should also sit in on this meeting.” Shiro spoke up finally. 

“Me?” Kuron said surprised 

“Yeah man! Maybe you’ll finally get your first mission!” Lance smacked Kuron on the shoulder, going from jokes to supportive in two seconds flat. 

“Maybe.” Kuron smiled a bit. Despite the teasing, Lance had pushed the hardest for saving Kuron and letting him become his own person. It was a stance Shiro couldn’t help but respect and he knew Kuron appreciated it too. Maybe appreciated it a bit too much based on the way Keith looked over Lance’s shoulder giving Kuron a stink eye.

One of the funniest parts about watching Keith and Lance’s relationship grow was seeing Keith transition from _Who would ever want to date this idiot?_ to _Oh my god I want to date this idiot!_ to _This is my idiot and everyone else better back off._

Shiro didn’t have any sincere concerns about Kuron bothering Lance but as long as Keith just kept things to overprotective glares Shiro wasn’t going to get involved. This was one thing they’d have to deal with themselves. 

After a few moments everyone settled around the conference/dining table and stopped talking long enough for Shiro to get started. 

“Alright. Thanks to rebel listening posts and recognizance from the Blade of Marmora we have our first confirmed location on Haggar in over a month.” Shiro announced and the silence in the room suddenly became much more serious. “She’s been holed up in a region of Space called the Typhoon because of its high concentration of chaotic dark energy that throws ships around like leaves in rapids. We don’t know how she’s managed to find a stable pocket but she’s taken advantage of the surrounding spatial phenomena to become almost completely untouchable by standard ships.” 

“Is Voltron strong enough to be taken into the rapids?” Keith asked 

“We think so.” Matt nodded from Shiro’s side

“Think so? Think so doesn’t sound like a yes.” Hunk spoke up and Shiro smiled reassuringly. 

“Voltron will be fine.” He said, while some people might dismiss Hunk as faint of heart Shiro knew that he was just smart enough to have more of a self-preservation instinct than the rest of them. “Our mission objective is to capture Haggar and as many of her followers as we can.”

“The Witch is a dangerous prisoner to have.” Lotor cautioned from his seat at the table. “It may be best to eliminate her as a threat all together.”

“We have considered that but when it comes down to it if we capture her we can try to extract information. If that fails she can still be taken out. If she’s eliminated first then we’ll never know what insight she may be able to offer.” Shiro said placatingly, by then he knew how to behave around the Galra and other more battle oriented species. He may not like the violence they suggested but he also had to acknowledge that it was that kill or be killed mindset that kept so many of them alive.

“She won’t be like any other prisoner you’ve had. She won’t break.” Lotor shook his head 

“It’s worth a shot.” Shiro nodded, Haggar had the answer to so many questions, namely what her objective had been with the Kuron project and the locations of remaining Galra special weapons facilities “Using intel from the Rebels and the Blade as well as maps provided by coalition planets we’ve set up a preliminary plan.” Shiro used the projected star map to outline the basic plan. This system had been working well, Shiro would design the basic plan layout and conduct the initial coordination with their allies and then Keith would come in as the head of Voltron and flesh out the plan with the rest of the team’s help. That way the brains and skills of everyone got involved. Sometimes the method caused disagreements to arise but when that happened they handled it as a team. 

Going with that system they fleshed out the plan, entrance strategy, giving Kuron a part in the field mission, hoping to back hack the once connection he had with Haggar to learn her exact place in the vessel and any other security risks, as well as strategies for how Voltron could best ride the region’s rapids. It was going to be difficult but by the time they ended the meeting Shiro knew it would be worth the risk. It wasn't just for personal reasons that he wanted Haggar to be apprehended, he knew that the war would never end with her still on the loose. 

He was finishing up a few last minute details with Keith, Lance and Matt waiting patiently for them by arguing about which Star Trek series was the best. 

“You guys be careful out there all right? I don’t want any of you getting hurt.” Shiro finished sternly 

“Don’t worry. We’ll be fine. So long as someone stays in formation this time.” Keith said pointedly and Lance broke away from his conversation with an indignant cry. 

“Fine. Next time I’ll stay in formation and let you get blasted at!” Lance said with a dramatic flourish of his hands.

“Can’t you two just admit you’re a good team?” Matt asked them, Shiro admired his bravery for getting involved.

“I have admitted we're a good team. It’s this guy who wants to ‘stay in the predetermined formation.’” Lance used a robotic voice which had Keith scowling at him.

“When have you ever admitted that, Mr. breaks formation so all hell breaks loose?” Keith asked and Shiro did his best not to laugh that Keith of all people was actually trying to give a lecture on sticking to the plan.

“Uh after my badass self woke up from the brink of death and shot Sendak, officially saving the day.” Lance said, that story getting more and more exaggerated every time. 

“That was forever ago-Hey wait a minute!” Keith turned red and Shiro quickly grabbed Matt, making for a hasty exit. He knew when it was time to make an orderly retreat and was not ashamed of it. “I knew you remembered our bonding moment!”

Shiro laughed when he heard Lance sputtering in response. Yeah, he was sure they’d be fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, I had to end with the bonding moment. It just seemed right.
> 
> So I final explanations. I know it was a weird choice to do this last chapter from Shiro's POV but I don't know, I kind of wanted an outside perspective to Keith and Lance's relationship and since this story was also really about Shiro I thought it would make sense that we heard from him. He was also a really good perspective to wrap up Kuron's arc and suggest what the next steps for the war effort are. 
> 
> At this point I don't have a sequel planned but at the same time I didn't want to close the door on one either and I thought this ending really gave me the option to leave things as is or continue on if I get the itch. 
> 
> I also wanted to focus this chapter on the lighter aspects of Lance and Keith's relationship because as important and fulfilling as it is to address their heavier feelings I think they first and foremost will be that couple screaming 'romantic insults' at each other across the room in public and in private be each other's stability and laughter.
> 
> Thanks again to everyone who's gotten this far! Let me know what you thought, leave kudos, share this story with other people. Just do what you do, ya'll've been great.

**Author's Note:**

> There's chapter 1. Let me know what you think so far! Next chapter will feature Krolia who I've decided is kind of awesome.


End file.
